A Few Good Men

Published Thursday 8 September 2005 at 13:10 by Peter Hepple

Whether Aaron Sorkin had his tongue in his cheek when selecting the title of his play, subsequently filmed in 1992, one can only guess. But subsequent events, particularly in its location, Guantanamo Bay, have proved that it is unfortunately apt.

Two marines have been accused of the death of another - a sad sack, who obviously had no place in the military - and a trial has ensued with a male and female defence counsel from the Navy, and a Marine prosecutor.

Both the defenders are newcomers, particularly the cocky young Daniel Kaffee, largely ignorant of the service and its legal procedure. But he learns pretty quickly about the ease with which the rules can be evaded and the brainwashing techniques that have been absorbed to such an extent that the accused assume they are guilty but will be protected by the code.

As a result, we come to some fairly nasty conclusions about the American armed forces, reinforcing our own more recent conclusions about their conduct in Iraq, for instance, and whether the infamous Code Red is still applicable.

As a courtroom drama, A Few Good Men does not disappoint, though the sideshows outside that location, including helicopters and abseiling, are distracting, as well as they are realised in David Esbjornson’s production and Michael Pavelka’s design.

The main acting attraction is, of course, Rob Lowe - not an actor capable of a great deal of depth, one fears, but nevertheless the possessor of a likeable personality, whose forte could well turn out to be comedy rather than serious drama.

His performance as Kaffee is, nevertheless, pleasing, as is the support by Suranne Jones as a woman not entirely at ease in uniform. John Barrowman’s prosecutor is nearly as cocky as Kaffee himself, Dan Fredenburgh is the associate defender, obviously regretting all his years in the service, and Jack Ellis is the bull-necked colonel, whose adherence to “going by the book” brings about his downfall and further confirms our suspicions about the marines.