The protagonist of In Our Name is Suzy (Joanne Froggat), a British soldier returning home after a traumatic tour in Iraq. Suzy returns to the embrace of her wider family, her husband Mark (Mel Raido) and her young daughter Cass (Chloe Jayne Wilkinson). Her husband Mark (Mel Raido) is preoccupied with getting Suzy into bed as soon as possible and seems to care little about her mental state or the fraught relationship between her and her daughter. Suzy is clearly not well though and the lack of care and attention to this from her husband in the early scenes sets up his character as uncaring and incredibly unlikeable.
The central performance by Joanne Froggat as the troubled soldier is quite adept but it is not enough as In Our Name constantly fails in almost every other area. The supporting performances are very weak in places despite having little to do as they are so simply drawn. Mel Raido never really convinces as the violent and thuggish squaddie husband and his relatively one note character adds little to the film apart from a minor sense of antagonism. The character of Paul (Andrew Knott), who Suzy served with in Iraq, is equally underwhelming spending the majority of the film with a dumbfounded look of shock and puzzlement. Early in the film though the camera focuses for some time on Paul and there is the feeling that the film may be his story or even the story of Paul and Suzy. This never really transpires though and as he is sidelined by the unfolding plot he becomes more and more another one note character.
The main issue with In Our Name appears to lie in the script. Apart from the slightly unconvincing dialogue and simplistically drawn characters the narrative arc is somewhat predictable, with upcoming plot developments to obviously signposted and strands of plot that seem to go nowhere. There is scene part way through for instance featuring a military doctor who speaks to Suzy about her mental state and mentions that someone has told him that she is having problems. This information goes nowhere and the person is never revealed, although Mark or Paul seem likely candidates, and the doctor character never appears again. It is also a scene that seems misplaced within the narrative and one that could perhaps have been better served by coming later in the film.
If In Our Name had received an extra rewrite of the script or a sharper edit it could have perhaps been a much more engrossing film about potentially interesting characters. Unfortunately though In Our Name is something of a mess and an incredibly underwhelming experience.
In Our Name will be released by Artificial Eye on the 10th of December in the UK.
