In what seems like an alternate reality that never existed, I was once in the British Army - this film is certainly one of the most accurate movies as far as the British Army is concerned. (I have friends that are still in the Army to this day but they say that the modern Army is unrecognisable from what we had to put up with.)
Many people assume it is brutal movie etc., I'd suggest it is just honest.
I think the reason that it is so accurate is because the majority (if not all?) of the actors were probably National Servicemen and knew exactly how things were.
Which is very far from the mark of other "realistic" military movies that are often too soft or touchy feely.
A classic example of a movie that was directed by somebody that (in my opinion!) did not have a clue, was "To End All Wars" which is a fairly highly rated moved but utterly disappointing personally speaking.
The very end of the movie did bring a rather swift misting of the eyes - but that was nothing to do with the actors. That's the scene with the actual people that the movie was based on.
