The Rockwater Corporation sends its employees on the most grueling training course with a former British Paratrooper to improve their teamwork.
Sue Bourne
Graham Shipman
Tony Miller & Jonathan Harrison
Fraser Barber & Stuart Bruce
Aberdeen
COMMENTEmployees of the Rockwater Corporation arrive in Aberdeen and are immediately told to strip down to their underpants, put their clothes in a plastic bag and swim to shore. By the following evening this seems like a luxury. Ex-paratrooper John Ridgeway drives the teams to their physical and mental limits. At the end of the week they all agree that John has succeeded in making them work as a team when they unanimously mutiny and refuse to strip once more and get in the icy water.
This was one of the first documentaries about ordinary people having to rough army training courses and difficult terrain to prove their mettle. It was made during the late 90s when team-building and company training exercises became popular in business. It spawned a number of documentary reality series such as Squaddies, The Carrot or the Stick and most recently Legionnaires.
The film is well-paced, the action has peaks and troughs and the story is easy to follow. The commentary is functional and well written.
Sue Bourne has made a number of films for Channel 4 including an affectionate film about pensioners committing crimes called Bus Pass Bandits.
