Occupation (2009)

just watch it!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

I have only recently watched Occupation, despite the fact that it came out in 2009, and I was pleasantly surprised. The drama certainly enthrals you from the first episode and is fast moving so it is almost impossible to be bored. The three main characters were played by James Nesbitt, Stephen Graham and Warren Brown. I thought that the performances from Brown and particularly Graham were brilliant and clearly showed the emotional strain on their characters but also how they coped with it so differently. On the other hand, I felt that the performance from Nesbitt was a little wooden. In fact, Nesbitt was completely eclipsed particularly in scenes played opposite Monica Dolan (his wife) who delivered a brilliantly heart-rending performance throughout. I would definitely recommend anyone to watch this but be prepared for some pretty emotional scenes.

OK i'm currently looking at this series as part of an assignment I'm doing and frankly every comment made on this site has been amazingly helpful and insightful.what i find most bankable about this whole series is that every comment made on here seems to be completely devoid of any suggestion that the series has an ulterior political motive, or that this is just a piece of propaganda. whats more it doesn't seem to have a set view on the war in Iraq, or the whether the world should have ever got involved in it.so as this can only be described at the best as entertainment i have to call it outstanding entertainment as it doesn't rely on anything but its story to captivate its audience. i read earlier comments from people who think that a lot of it is very OTT or over blown Hollywood crap, and that in an effort to make the series seem more realistic they have in fact madeit boring.the sense of realism for me doesn't come from the series set pieces it comes from it's characters. i feel fully able to engage with the characters on screen and do not feel uncomfortable, or at any time bored with what i'm seeing. this is because i feel that the series has managed to completely capture the realism of the war through the representation of the marines on screen.this series was not done to just provide entertainment or to influence anyones opinion. it was made to pay tribute to those men who fought then and are fighting now, and the only way that that was ever going to be possible was if the series stayed true to its source material, and true to reality and in my opinion i think it has raised the bar and set new grounds for film and television making.

Well made and quite gripping.However, I thought it was totally unconvincing that Danny and Lester were capable of running a successful military contractor company. Danny was completely unstable and had no aptitude for business or level-headedness.So Lester must have done all the organizing and thinking, though we never saw any of that take place. But why in the world would Lester trust Danny and think he was a suitable business partner?Another thing that seemed unlikely: the Americans and Iraqis were easily able to understand the British characters' strong accents (Northern Ireland, Manchester, and Newcastle?). I had plenty of difficulty understanding what they were saying, and I'm British and sitting comfortably at home, and sometimes even rewinding it or switching the volume up.

I missed this when shown on TV but caught up with it on demand. I only intended to watch the 1st episode tonight, but I am writing this having sat captivated for all 3 episodes. This is by far the best drama I have seen in years. The story of these 3 men is compelling and powerfully written. The acting is without fault, especially the three lead roles. You really get to understand these people and the journey they go through. If you ever get the chance to watch this drama series do so and very well done the BBC for getting this made. I challenge anyone to watch the whole series and not be challenged about what they believe about the impact on war on the soldiers serving and in particular the implications of the war in Iraq on that country and it's people.