Love among the ruins of “the Troubles” (8/10)

Danny: I’m not a killer, Maggie, but this place makes me want to kill.

A pleasant discovery, for some reason not a major work that many people know of in the Daniel Day-Lewis oeuvre, which includes:

A couple of these he won Oscars for and for others he was nominated, for Last of the Mohicans I believe he won an award for cross-country running. 🙂 (And it’s still one of my top 10.) As in the first three in the list, the movie has to do with Ireland, in this case the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and one individual Danny Flynn. A promising young boxer, at 18 Danny had some role in the IRA that landed him in jail, where they kept him for 14 years because he wouldn’t inform on anyone. Continue reading →

Character study in precursor environment of the Northern Ireland ‘Troubles’

Happened upon the film given four stars by the reviewer on Turner Classic Movies, and checked it out.

Glad I did. Informed by the venerable Robert Osborne that this movie is a launch pad for director Carol Reed who later did such classics as The Third Man, The Agony and the Ecstasy, and Oliver. It also served to elevate James Mason into leading actor territory. In this effort he is cast as an Irish revolutionary leader working for ‘the Organisation’ after having served much time in a British/Unionist prison. [Here’s where I’m unclear on the history, but I believe, looking at my Wikipedia ‘hallowed official knowledge’-bot article on Ireland: I see the Irish Republic—meaning the bulk of the island, except for the northeast six counties—came into existence after considerable struggle in 1921 with the Anglo-Irish Treaty, but it wasn’t until 1949 that ‘full’ independence was achieved and that that land became the Republic of Ireland. Continue reading →