At the post screening Q and A of Greyhawk, a film about a blind war veteran searching for his stolen guide dog, the filmmakers were asked a difficult question: why cast Alec Newman in the place of an equally capable blind actor? The response was that Greyhawk is not a film about disability, but about characters who face a more metaphorical ‘blindness’, harboured within themselves and externalised onto others. While this interpretation is debatable, it is valid to say that director Guy Pitt and screenwriter Matt Pitt have created a debut feature that recycles the clichéd environments of confined youth addled estates that have become so common in British cinema, into a film that is both stylistically and dramatically ambitious.
The film primarily focuses on a bitter ex – soldier (Newman), filled with self –loathing, bitterness and isolation, with his only solace being his beloved guide dog. With the writers dastardly pulling the Jerry Bruckheimer ‘dog in peril’ card, his guide dog is subsequently stolen by a gang of youths, leaving him alone, lost and sardonically lashing out at anybody who tries to help. Yet this event becomes a catalyst for the soldier’s cathartic journey to find his dog in the notorious estate of ‘Greyhawk’, a journey that will change his character indefinitely. Sustained by the lead performance of Newman, with a brilliant turn by Zoe Telford’s single mother, the film pins down the subtleties of these dysfunctional characters, alleviating their own inner blindness through the acceptance of difficult truths – especially in a standout scene seeing Newman’s character confessing the story of how he lost his sight on the battlefield.
While the Greyhawk did have the potential to fall into the sentiment of similar British films Inside Were Dancing and Harry Brown, the Pitt’s presentation of disability is rendered evocative and emotionally honest, from the average person’s uncomfortable reactions to taboos of blindness, to Newman’s characters complex rejection of human affection. From cinematography that uses canted framing and obscured compositions to reflect elements of ‘blindness’, to Newman’s own research spending time with charity ‘Blind Veterans UK’ in preparation for the role, the resulting film is something that understandably uses images and metaphors of ‘blindness’ to didactically aid the story, yet garners its real dramatic power from the poignant, believable performances.
While the question of whether disability needs to be dramatised by non-disabled actors remains a controversial question, Greyhawk’s empathetic touch and immersive characters should cast all of these dispersions aside, setting its narrative against a backdrop of underclass, post war nihilism and broken families, in a film that is as much about the value of different perspectives as is it is about ‘blindness’.
Director: Guy Pitt
Writer: Matt Pitt
Stars: Phil Deguara, Michael Fox, Amy Gallagher
Runtime: 90 mins
Country: UK
Film Rating: 
