In the Name of the Father – 1993
This was a good movie. It was a pretty intense drama that didn’t seem to pull any punches. It had some pretty good characters that and a plot that was based on real events. It had some pretty incredible acting and a talented cast. In the Name of the father was a difficult movie to watch. Because of the nature of the plot, I kept wanting to walk away. The movie was about extreme injustice. It is hard to watch the tale of a man, who is wrongly accused of a crime and is sent to prison for a life sentence. To add insult to injury, when his father tries to help him, he is also arrested and sentenced to prison. The fact that we are shown his innocence and the corruption of the police just make it harder to watch. But that’s just effective story telling.
Daniel Day-Lewis played Gerry Conlon, a young Irish man who lives in the hot-bed city of Belfast in the mid 70s. When he is threatened by the IRA, he goes to London to stay out of trouble. While there, he becomes involved in the free-love hippy movement, living as a squatter in a commune. While Gerry and his friend Paul, played by John Lynch, are talking with a homeless man in the park, the IRA plants a bomb in a local pub, killing several people. Identifying Gerry as an Irishman and a petty thief, the police go out of their way to find him, Paul, and two other squatters guilty of the crime, using them as quick and easy scapegoats. The police are fully aware of their innocence, but want to show the public quick arrests and convictions.
When Gerry’s father Giuseppe, played by Pete Postlethwaite, goes to London to help his son, the police arrest him along with other members of his family, accusing them of being conspirators. Gerry and his father spend 15 years in prison together. All the while, Giuseppe continues to proclaim their innocence and tries to find legal representation to make an appeal to the courts. Emma Thompson played Gareth Pierce, the lawyer who fights to prove their innocence.
The two men eventually grow closer together than they have ever been. But Giuseppe eventually becomes sick and as his health deteriorates, Gerry takes over the struggle to find justice and freedom. When his father dies, he becomes even more determined. Eventually, Pierce finds a crucial piece of evidence that had been buried by the police in the original trial which proves, not only Gerry’s innocence, but that of his friends, father, and family. The evidence also reveals that the police knew of their innocence, yet buried the information.
Daniel Day-Lewis is one of those actors that seems to throw his entire heart and soul into each and every one of his performances, constantly putting out good work. This is just another example of his excellent skills as an actor. I also liked Postlethwaite as the aggrieved father who sacrifices everything for his son. Thompson’s performance was a little underwhelming, but not because she did a bad job. The script just didn’t demand very much of her. In addition, there was Joe McAndrew, the man who was actually behind the bombing who is placed in the same prison, played by Don Baker. He perpetrates violent protests against the wrongful incarceration of Gerry and Giuseppe, even going so far as to set a hated prison guard on fire.
But I also have to make special mention of a certain actor who might easily be overlooked. The main corrupt police officer who was behind the bogus arrests and convictions was Inspector Robert Dixon, played by Corin Redgrave. He was so dastardly and smarmy about it. Whenever he was on the witness stand at both the original trial and the appeal trial, he had such a smug smirk on his face, perfectly portraying the evil arrogance and self-satisfied scorn of the character.
I really liked how the movie portrayed the character of Gerry. He is basically a good kid. Not terribly smart, and not completely innocent. Sure, he is a thief and a drug user, but his is not a member of the IRA. He starts out as a young hoodlum with little respect for a father who he sees as a spineless failure who never showed him any support or compassion as a child. But he grows into a man who comes to understand just how much his father loves him. Day-Lewis was perfectly cast, but it is hard to go wrong with such a dedicated and professional actor.
As with many film based on reality, I read section of the Wikipedia article which talked about historical inaccuracies and found that there was some controversy connected with the film. But after reading about them, the infractions were so minor that they were seemed insignificant. For example, in reality, Gerry and Giuseppe were never kept in the same cell in prison. In fact, they were generally kept in different prisons. And the courtroom scenes resembled an American courtroom rather than a British one. Pierce, being only a solicitor and not a barrister, would never have been allowed into the courtroom. But that was about it. But I guess you would have to be part of the British legal system in order to consider the misrepresentation a controversy.