This is a slow burning romantic drama set against the backdrop of The Troubles in Northern Ireland . There's very few satisfying films that use the backdrop of The Troubles as its theme THE DEVIL'S OWN is a travesty . RESURRECTION MAN is low budget underdeveloped torture porn . Both SOME MOTHER'S SON and IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER are based on true events but suffer from artistic licence by the producers . Along with HARRY'S GAME this movie is probably the best movie on The Troubles in my opinion and it did receive much critical acclaim when it was released in the mid 1980s . Sadly when I came to this page it had less than 1,000 votes and a grand total of six people had bothered to comment on it which is a pity since it deserves to be better remembered
At the core of the story is a love affair between a recently widowed librarian Marcella and a teenager called Cal who is a recent recruit to the IRA . Some people might claim this is an unlikely love affair but I think were to brutally about human sexuality men would confess to being sexually attracted towards older women while women are sexually attracted to younger men and it's only social conditioning that has stopped these type of love affairs becoming more common . It should also be pointed out this sets up the mystery of plot where the audience wonder who it was who pulled the trigger and murdered Marcella's husband
One thing is unlikely and that is the way the IRA want to keep Cal in the organisation . In the early 1970s with internment and Bloody Sunday the IRA didn't find recruiting young men from Republican ghettos a problem . The problem started with new recruits having to plant bombs that often killed and mutilated innocent civilians both protestant and catholic and the recruits finding themselves wanting no part of this violence so they'd be released by the IRA . This was entirely down to practicalities - an unwilling volunteer in the IRA could be easily recruited by RUC special branch and MI5 as an informer
The dialogue does suffer from blackly comical absurdity which is no doubt deliberate such as the robbing of a cinema
" How'd it go ? "
" What ? "
" The f-ckin' picture did ya get the money ? "
" Oh aye shaking in her hi heels . Whose side it this time ? I said ya think I'm working for the other side ya stupid b*tch "
There's also the bizarre nature of an IRA gunman being a mod and committing acts of Republican terrorism while wearing patches dedicated to The Jam on his jacket . One can visualise him attending IRA meetings while wearing a parka emblazoned by Union flags with hilarious results
All in all this is a very good drama featuring the Troubles as its backdrop . Some people might be put off down to the fact that there's little incident but that's to forget it's a human drama rather than a thriller and is intelligently written and superbly played by the cast which makes it possibly the best of the films featuring the Troubles
At the core of the story is a love affair between a recently widowed librarian Marcella and a teenager called Cal who is a recent recruit to the IRA . Some people might claim this is an unlikely love affair but I think were to brutally about human sexuality men would confess to being sexually attracted towards older women while women are sexually attracted to younger men and it's only social conditioning that has stopped these type of love affairs becoming more common . It should also be pointed out this sets up the mystery of plot where the audience wonder who it was who pulled the trigger and murdered Marcella's husband
One thing is unlikely and that is the way the IRA want to keep Cal in the organisation . In the early 1970s with internment and Bloody Sunday the IRA didn't find recruiting young men from Republican ghettos a problem . The problem started with new recruits having to plant bombs that often killed and mutilated innocent civilians both protestant and catholic and the recruits finding themselves wanting no part of this violence so they'd be released by the IRA . This was entirely down to practicalities - an unwilling volunteer in the IRA could be easily recruited by RUC special branch and MI5 as an informer
The dialogue does suffer from blackly comical absurdity which is no doubt deliberate such as the robbing of a cinema
" How'd it go ? "
" What ? "
" The f-ckin' picture did ya get the money ? "
" Oh aye shaking in her hi heels . Whose side it this time ? I said ya think I'm working for the other side ya stupid b*tch "
There's also the bizarre nature of an IRA gunman being a mod and committing acts of Republican terrorism while wearing patches dedicated to The Jam on his jacket . One can visualise him attending IRA meetings while wearing a parka emblazoned by Union flags with hilarious results
All in all this is a very good drama featuring the Troubles as its backdrop . Some people might be put off down to the fact that there's little incident but that's to forget it's a human drama rather than a thriller and is intelligently written and superbly played by the cast which makes it possibly the best of the films featuring the Troubles