- Director
- Writer
- Star
Photos
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Featured review
I'm Critical
It's often said that the most difficult fictional topic to write about is war because people have an interest of war whether they were involved in the conflict you're writing about or have been in the forces or just have an in-depth knowledge on military history or military geo-politics . There's so many ways a writer can trip themselves up on facts when writing war novels and it's no different when making an ( Anti ) war film
Joe Gough's short POP THE PANDA is a case in point . The story opens with a young British soldier called David coming across several bodies at an unspecified location ( It's heavily implied it's Iraq ) but anyone with any knowledge of the present day British army will be very distracted by three things
1 ) David's beret has small two " ribbons " dangling at the back . While some NATO armies have these ribbons the British Army standard beret certainly does not
2 ) There's no cap badge in the beret
3 ) David carries a CAR-15 assault rifle and while the CAR-15 ( A shortened version of the M-16 ) is the standard assault rifle for several NATO armies the British use the SA80 bullpup . There is no way a regular British soldier would be issued with the CAR-15
So these three things instantly spoil the story's potential right away because I and I think many others with the slightest interest in the military . There's also another irritating thing a few minutes later when David mentions that " The desert is humid " . I'm no expert on deserts but surely a characteristic of deserts is their lack of humidity ?
I will respect both Joe Gough and POP THE PANDA in that neither descends into bitter polemical diatribe . The invasion of Iraq has been the most unpopular war Britain has been involved with since opinion polls started . 2 million people demonstrated against it in Britain , the biggest demonstrations this often apathetic country has ever seen and thankfully the production team keep their opinions to themselves as to the right and wrongs of it . If I can sense anything in the subtext it's that no matter the right and wrongs of wars soldiers have the toughest job in the world . Such a pity that David never convinced me he was a soldier
Joe Gough's short POP THE PANDA is a case in point . The story opens with a young British soldier called David coming across several bodies at an unspecified location ( It's heavily implied it's Iraq ) but anyone with any knowledge of the present day British army will be very distracted by three things
1 ) David's beret has small two " ribbons " dangling at the back . While some NATO armies have these ribbons the British Army standard beret certainly does not
2 ) There's no cap badge in the beret
3 ) David carries a CAR-15 assault rifle and while the CAR-15 ( A shortened version of the M-16 ) is the standard assault rifle for several NATO armies the British use the SA80 bullpup . There is no way a regular British soldier would be issued with the CAR-15
So these three things instantly spoil the story's potential right away because I and I think many others with the slightest interest in the military . There's also another irritating thing a few minutes later when David mentions that " The desert is humid " . I'm no expert on deserts but surely a characteristic of deserts is their lack of humidity ?
I will respect both Joe Gough and POP THE PANDA in that neither descends into bitter polemical diatribe . The invasion of Iraq has been the most unpopular war Britain has been involved with since opinion polls started . 2 million people demonstrated against it in Britain , the biggest demonstrations this often apathetic country has ever seen and thankfully the production team keep their opinions to themselves as to the right and wrongs of it . If I can sense anything in the subtext it's that no matter the right and wrongs of wars soldiers have the toughest job in the world . Such a pity that David never convinced me he was a soldier
helpful•10
- Theo Robertson
- Sep 21, 2005
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Language
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
- Runtime13 minutes
- Color
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content