This is a fine film. A drama-documentary, which takes a telling if narrow snapshot of London at the height of the Vietnam war. This is fascinating and useful insight into one section of British thinking. Coming as it does from the perspective of noted theatre director Peter Brooke and his band of Royal Shakespeare Company players, the views expressed here are authentically vexed, complex and multi-layered.
Many scenarios are authored and staged by Brooke and the cast which illustrate the diversity of anti-war opinion that existed among London's artistic and intellectual communities. However, this is no Swinging London post-card fantasy. The opinions expressed here are raw, heartfelt and honestly confused - much like the war itself.
One is left with the impression that those who occupied London's and indeed Britain's cultural high ground were feeling a sense of moral impotence and torment in the face of war's terrible realities. At the end of 'Tell Me Lies', the question of what price should be paid to fight a 'moral' conflict is left unanswered. Instead, we are left with a reminder that art and politics can offer no easy solutions to the legacy of war with its landscapes of broken bodies and destroyed lives.
