The Royal Hampshires in the Caribbean explains from the outset that army life in the Caribbean ‘is not just a matter of sitting on a beach with a beautiful blonde and a bottle of cold beer in your hand’. The film thus attempts to illustrate the varied work of the British within the West Indies and to challenge popular perceptions, yet the first section ultimately endorses this ‘holiday’ image of life in the Caribbean. The film appears almost as a travelogue. The jocular tone of the commentary is akin to a postcard (‘Alligators! Don’t worry, Mum.’), while its content presents the military as holidaying tourists (‘rum’s cheap, there are a few night clubs and bars, and you can do a bit of shopping’).

However, there is a clear shift – in commentary and on screen – as attention shifts to the destruction caused by Hurricane Hattie in Belize. The film uses traditional racial stereotypes to highlight the unique set of skills and the necessary role of the British in response to the hurricane. The British admired the locals’ ‘cheerfulness, their friendliness’, but the locals were in a state of ‘apathy’ and were ‘really doing nothing concrete to help themselves’. In response, an interviewee explains that the British sought to ‘try to get some organisation into place’.

The film highlights the tireless work of the British army - ‘only when everything had been done to help the civilian population did the Hampshires begin to rebuild their own devastated quarters’ – and emphasises that these were shared experiences between the locals and the British. The film shows the damage to the governor’s house – ‘a hurricane is no respecter of persons – everyone lost something and some lost everything’ – yet while the commentary aligns the experiences of the British and the locals, the footage indicates clear divisions. For example, the British ladies discuss the destruction wrought by the hurricane while sitting by a swimming pool at a country club.

The commentary promotes a camaraderie between the British and West Indians, but it also highlights cultural differences. In the village of St Cuthberts, soldiers bring cigarettes, biscuits and ‘represent law and order’ to the Amerindians, who practise a ‘simple kind of agriculture’ that, the commentator explains, consists of picking a ‘coconut off the nearest tree’. The contrasts with western culture are emphasised – ‘if you happen to miss the juke box, there’s the local schoolchildren, singing some genuine country-style music’ – reinforcing a depiction of the ‘primitive’ West Indies at a moment of great change within the Caribbean.

The Royal Hampshires would leave the Caribbean in less than a year, yet there is virtually no acknowledgement of any political changes or unrest. Colonel David Warren explains in an interview that the Army ‘is here to keep things quiet’ as troubles ‘may occur within the countries with progress towards independence’, yet these ideas are not explored further. Indeed, in focussing on, and seeking to promote, the work of the Royal Hampshires, the film offers little indication of the attitudes and experiences of the West Indians.  This is an entirely British account, interviewing only British men and women, so that the West Indians are depicted as largely voiceless figures, in need of, and benefiting from, British assistance.

Tom Rice (May 2008)