Boy Soldier
Writer - S4C

Independent film for S4C. Richard Lynch made his debut as young Welsh squaddie in Northern Ireland who  kills a civilian and is charged with murder.  Also starring Bernard Hill and James Donnelly.  1986 (98’)

If Spielberg's ET, in the immortal words of Pauline Kael, was a bliss-out, Karl Francis' Boy Solder is a bleed-out.  For sheer fist shaking emotionalism, it would be hard to find another British film of recent years to beat it.  (The Guardian)

“A superb performance by Richard Lynch and a passionate dissection by Francis of what can still be called British class war, make this a powerful and affecting drama.   Rough and ready, perhaps - but strong enough to take you by the throat and refuse to let go.  (Cosmopolitan)

Francis has deployed a tiny budget to make a visually impressive and powerful film, successfully sustaining a complex flashback structure which tracks the memories and reflections of the main character.   It is a good, angry, deeply-felt film to launch a national cinema.  (The Times)