DVD Review - Greyhawk (2014)

An army veteran who is blind, loses his only true friend and guide dog Quince, the veteran thinks that a small gang of youths stole Quince and which in turn he finds himself in one of the toughest estates that is the notorious estate of “GREYHAWK”.

Greyhawk is not a film about disability, but about a solider filled with bitterness and isolation with his only friend whom he seeks comfort in, his guide dog Quince.

The film pins down the sensitivities of these dysfunctional characters, going between their own inner blindness through the acceptance of difficult truths that they have to face in this movie.

In the standout scene we see Newman’s character confessing the story of how he lost his sight on the battlefield,this unearths his emotions of how he felt at that time.By doing this scene it makes you feel his loneliness and why he lashes out at anyone that tries to help him.

Yet this event becomes a spark in the soldier’s emotional journey to find his dog, his one true friend in the notorious estate of Greyhawk, a journey that will change his character forever.

Pitt’s presentation of this disability is declared reminiscent and emotionally honest, from the average person’s uncomfortable reactions to taboos of blindness, to Newman’s shows it through his character and also with the rejection of human affection in this film. Alec Newman’s own research and spending time with charity ‘Blind Veterans UK’ in preparation for the role, gives the result of a story that comes alive on the big screen, yet saves its real dramatic power from the poignant, believable performances that Alec Newman and his co-stars show on the big screen.

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, in a film that is as much about the value of different peoples standpoints as is it is about blindness, that happened through active duty but many people are born with being blind.