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Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Emily Watson, Brian Cox, Ken Stott, Gerard McSorely, Ciaran Fitzgerald,
Eleanor Methven. Directed by Jim Sheridan.
Danny Flynn (Day-Lewis) is just finishing a 14-year sentence in a Belfast prison for IRA bombing activities. He goes to a men's shelter and meets his old boxing coach Ike (Stott) who has taken refuge in the bottle, disillusioned that too many of his fighters have been killed or left boxing for IRA/Protestant violence. Danny and Ike decide to reopen the old boxing club, welcoming both Catholics and Protestants. After he gets out of prison, he tries to avoid, but eventually meets up with his old girlfriend, his one true love Maggie (Watson). She has since married his best friend, who was also sent to prison. But her marriage is virtually dead, she still loves Danny, and Danny loves her. The problem is the IRA has a very strict code for prisoners wives - you get to be an honoured martyr to the cause, as long as you remain scrupulously chaste and loyal to your husband. Danny and Maggie are having a tough time adhering to this code. Maggie's father Joe (Cox) is a top IRA leader, trying to negotiate peace in Northern Ireland with Protestant and British authorities. He is having a hard time controlling an angry, hardcore paramilitary leader Harry (McSorely), who doesn't want anything to do with peace. Harry doesn't approve of Danny's conversion to peacemaking, (it was his actions who got Danny arrested in the first place), and he dislikes Danny's burgeoning relationship with Maggie. Danny and Ike arrange for a boxing match with a Scot as a means of bringing Catholics and Protestants together, and this event brings things to a head. Jim Sheridan reunites with Daniel Day-Lewis for the third time (academy award winner My Left Foot and In The Name Of The Father), and it is again a winner. The tension and hoplessness is vividly illustrated, as residents in cold, bullet riddled apartments live out an existence waiting for the other shoe to drop. And it often does. One particularly startling shot is an aerial view of a red, white and blue Loyalist (Protestant) flag painted on the sidewalk by a fortified wall, then seeing the green, yellow and white IRA (Catholic) flag on the other side. There are lags in the script and a few false moments, but the film is elevated by the performances of Day-Lewis and Watson. Day-Lewis is restrained and intense, losing the over-the-top histrionics of such recent films as The Crucible. He is in fantastic shape, and totally convincing as a boxer. Watson is sensational. She radiates sensuality and intelligence. And their chemistry together is outstanding, generating more heat just talking together than that of most screen couples rolling around in the buff. The film does provide some understanding as to why the Troubles exist, but mostly we get the feeling of frustration as to why they don't, as Joe says, just "grow up".  |