FILMS - S.A.S. Rough Heroes – Season 2

S.A.S. ROGUE HEROES – Season 2, directed by Steven Knight, 2025
A MAN, A WARRIOR: STRONG BECAUSE HE HAS TO BE, WEAK WHEN HE DOESN’T WANT TO BE

British playwright, professor of English language and literature, Steven Knight was nominated for an Oscar for the screenplay for the film “Dirty pretty Things”, is the screenwriter and director of the film “Locke”, the screenwriter of the film “Eastern Promises” directed by David Cronenberg, and the screenwriter of the films “Maria” and “Spencer” which were both directed by Pablo Larrain. His series for the BBC, “Peaky Blinders”, is also very popular. In the second season “S.A.S: Rogue Heroes” returns with the same intensity as in the first, continuing its story of the formation of the British Special Air Force, with a visually sophisticated style and a tense rhythm, charged with testosterone and adrenaline.

In the first season, David Stirling is a is a self-confident officer who created the S.A.S. with vision and purpose. But, as historical facts claim, Stirling ends up in a prisoner of war in 1943. Therefore, in the second season the protagonist finds himself trapped in Italy, trying to escape. After the S.A.S. helped take control of North Africa in the first season, they were given what London strategist Clarke, smilingly describes as “an even more effective way to commit suicide”. They are temporarily renamed the “Special Raiding Squadron” (S.R.S.) and have a new mission, the invasion of Sicily, which is largely played out in numerous Istrian locations. For this mission, the leaders predict that they will have a mortality rate of 50%, which of course serves as a framework for even more dangerous and spectacular war actions filled with adrenaline fantasies.

In the second season, the David's chaotic successor Paddy Mayne takes over the helm of the S.A.S., on whom the success of the operation depends. Paddy finds his warlike spirit as a squadron leader in his own anger, while strategy is often secondary to him. In order to inspire himself and his men and overcome fear while looking death in the eye, he recites the verses of William Blake. Jack O'Connell is strong, both physically and as an actor, but his character, as well as the entire second season of the series, glorifies unaccountable aggression and unlimited unscrupulousness. The opening scene in the first episode, when he is denied days off to attend his father's funeral, which leads him to demolish a restaurant in Cairo, sets the tone for his performance and character. Angry men, frustrated with the chain of command, who fight, drink and shoot, are his heroes, and he is their ringleader.

The storyline takes place within the historically clear struggle against Nazism, which ensures its moral purity. But even within such a “pure” war story, the bitterness of class hierarchy remains: smiling aristocrats send the sons of workers to their deaths. The tone of the series' narrative registers this without tendentiousness, without imposing positions. Even when Paddy rebels, refusing to show respect to his superiors, his rebellion is personal, not ideological, while the system remains intact, and Paddy has accomplished his tasks.

This view of the situations that occurred and happened after World War II, given the amount of aggression and the visual insistence on war actions in the picture, besides being politically specific and such a good basis for creating a broader picture, also offers a deeper thought about war, warfare and the very need, in this case of the male character, to prove themselves on the battlefield. The pressure that men feel during the fight that is imposed on them, the fears that haunt them and this coercion, pushing themselves to be real, useful and effective warriors, are excellently dramaturgically implemented and performed. Despite their enormous physical strength and constant excitement, their emotional side, due to an excessive amount of tension, uncertainty and fear, bursts in various ways.

O’Connell’s performance is physically charged, emotionally sharpened and often magnetic. His conflict with Bill Stirling, David’s older brother, brings depth to the series. However, their relationship is too poorly dramatized and interesting dialogues are too few. In these rare conversations between Bill and Paddy, one can read a subtle heroic competition that is excellently written, staged and acted. The fight scenes are exceptionally well shot, numerous sets are very well trained with many scenography details and visual effects, although some parts of the war exploits, as well as the situation on the ground, are quite unrealistic, as if they were made more for the attractiveness of the image itself. The music is mostly rock, an anachronism for the time, but its dramatic function in counterpoint is very striking, where it additionally intensifies the situations.

Although the narrative of the series is based on historical facts, they are secondary in the image of the warrior as an unrestrained, unconquered man in constant conflict with the world, and with himself, which forms the basic premise of the series. Series “S.A.S. Rogue Heroes” is a thoughtful drama about war, class differences and male psychology, and it is also a study of a specific male character, which at the same time cannot resist the spectacularity of the war scenes. Ultimately, the “S.A.S. Rogue Heroes” is a superbly filmed war fable for those who still want to believe that real men are those who don't break, but break others.