Service No Longer Required

Adapted from the screenplay The Terminus this short film by Nigel Fair, Service No Longer Required, puts the spotlight on a homeless ex-army veteran sleeping rough at Waterloo station, in a tribute and call for support for the ex-servicemen and women who struggle with PTSD and homelessness.

Using a cast and crew of mostly ex-military artists, Tip Cullen (former Royal Marines Commando) plays the leading role of ‘Bootsie’ the homeless ex-army medic who is sat bearded and grey on the train station floor watching the commuters pass by. He begins a slow purposeful monologue appealing to anyone who might listen as he recounts the epitaphs and harrowing imagery of battles gone by. In the background we hear the boots of soldiers marching, which swiftly switches to the sound of London’s bustling commuters, from whom Bootsie receives varying degrees of sympathy, as he continues to hear the cries and explosions of the battlefield.

The opening slides of postcard sketches and photographs provide some historical background to the plight of the army veterans’ sufferings: injuries, PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) and homelessness. They highlight how the homeless and mentally sick have been harshly treated by society over time, but also the support they’ve received from the likes of pioneers such as Sir Oswald Stoll and the Royal Hospital Chelsea (and in the case of this film the Veterans’ Foundation).

The authentic postcards establish the long history associated with these problems going as far back here as the Tudor times and bringing them to the present day to Waterloo station and the obvious yet poignant link between the station and its namesake the battle of Waterloo. The closing captions at the end of the film make grim reading about the more recent conflicts of Afghanistan and Iraq where it says more servicemen and women took their own lives after their deployment than were killed in action.

Following the sombre slides we see images of the busy London traffic combined with a cheerful pop soundtrack, which lifts the mood momentarily, before returning to the subject matter of Bootsie and his homeless struggle. The passers-by highlight the range of opinions often associated with homelessness from the more kindly offerings of a cup of tea to the more disparaging and outright abusive. Meanwhile Tip Cullen’s performance as Bootsie is resolute and well informed in the face of his predicament delivering a steely glazed account of the horrors of his experience shared by his fellow veterans.

A hugely touching short directed by Nigel Fair and produced by Shaun Johnson the film is part of a campaign to raise money towards the full theatre production of the play ‘The Terminus’ from which this film’s poppy scene was taken, and to also continue the support for military veterans by helping them work in the theatre and film industries.

(Bootsie, Albert Lines, was a World War II veteran who lived rough on the streets of Kingston Upon Thames in the 60s and 70s. He is the inspiration for the charity and its theatre production The Terminus.)

For further details about the film go to http://www.hatsoffforbootsie.org.uk