5 February 1998 Edition
Cinema: Punch drunk plot
The Boxer
This is Jim Sheridan's most direct treatment yet of the nationalist community and of the IRA and it must be said at the outset that it is an utter travesty.
His portrayal of the IRA looks more like the product of a tabloid scribe than a respected Irish director.
Harry, played by Gerard McSorley, is a vicious thug straight out of the Northern Ireland Office's propaganda ad of a couple of years ago. Joe Hamill, the IRA leader played by Brain Cox, fits the godfather stereotype; the longest coat in the ghetto with henchmen dancing attendance. His character softens because he calls a ceasefire and the treatment of the peace process is farcical. A Sky News 30-second report from Belfast would have more depth.
This is supposed to be Belfast in the 90s but it seems more like the 70s - the 70s, that is, of the director's imagination, with all its false and outmoded notions of life in nationalist districts and of the IRA. This has nothing to do with the communities that we know. In this film they are sullen, broken and derelict like their crumbling environment.
Sheridan displays a lack of basic understanding of republican politics, the dynamic of the conflict and the motivation of those involved. In both Some Mother's Son and In the Name of the Father the need to portray actual events anchored the films to reality and gave them their strength. This fictional farrago sees Sheridan slipping anchor and drifting helpessly. The plot, despite the well-executed twist in the end, is
wafer thin. The film is full of absurd and implausible incidents, notably the boxing match in Belfast city centre which ends in a riot.
But what about the Boxer himself, you ask. As usual, Daniel Day Lewis's acting is flawless but the material he has been given is threadbare. An hour and 53 minutes of brooding by an introverted ex-prisoner is too much to take.
Emily Watson acts well as Maggie, Day Lewis's lover who married his best friend when the Boxer was in jail. But again the script is woeful.
A central theme of the film is the plight of prisoners' wives (never partners or girlfriends since in this world all are married) and the crass handling of it is cringe-making. At the start a youth at a party is threatened with knee-capping by an IRA man for dancing too close with a prisoner's wife. ``This is a film about the emergence of women in this society,'' claims Sheridan in the press handout but I believe republican women and prisoners' families will find it deeply insulting. There are no republican women in their own right, no women prisoners, only ``the wives''.
Says Sheridan: ``The men inside the prison feel that if the women aren't loyal to them, the morale of the army would collapse, so all the women are watched in a kind of self-censorship. Their every move is being watched because of the impact it can have. There is no privacy in this war.''
This is Hollywood hogwash and a parody of the complex reality of relationships between prisoners and their loved ones. But then in this film republicans are not rational human beings making choices, because, according to the blurb ``they are bound by ancient, unquestioning loyalty to the ties of blood, tribe and tradition''.
I can find very little good to say about this movie apart from the laudable efforts of the cast who are the victims of the hideous plot and stilted script of writers Jim Sheridan and Terry George. I don't know much about pugilism but the boxing scenes do look very authentic, conveying the seedy brutality of the fight game. But then it is not really a film about boxing at all. That was the film Jim Sheridan should have made.
By Mícheál Mac Donncha
The Irish Film Centre, in Dublin's Temple Bar, will commemorate the 1798 Rebellion with a fascinating series of films.
On Friday 27 February there will be a screening of Anne Devlin, a film about her experience of the events of 1798 and her role in the 1803 rebellion. The screening will be preceded by a talk by Professor Mary Cullen on the role of women in 1798. The talk is at 8.00pm.
At 2.00pm on Saturday 28 February, four silent films, all made before 1916, will be screened. They are Bold Emmet Ireland's Martyr, For Ireland's Sake, Rory O'More and Ireland a Nation.
On the same day, at 5.30pm, two pieces of non-fiction footage of 20th Century 1798 commemorative events which have recently come to light will be shown. They record events in Belfast and in Wexford. There will also be a screening of Who Fears to Speak of `98, a documentary about the 150th anniversary of the rebellion, and a more recent fictional account, It's Handy When People Don't Die.
The two days of films will be launched at 6.30pm on Friday 27 February by Fianna Fáil Minister of State Seamus Brennan, who is also the Chair of the Dublin government's 1798 Commemorative Committee.
All the events are free, but booking is on a first-come, first-served basis.
This is Jim Sheridan's most direct treatment yet of the nationalist community and of the IRA and it must be said at the outset that it is an utter travesty.
His portrayal of the IRA looks more like the product of a tabloid scribe than a respected Irish director.
Harry, played by Gerard McSorley, is a vicious thug straight out of the Northern Ireland Office's propaganda ad of a couple of years ago. Joe Hamill, the IRA leader played by Brain Cox, fits the godfather stereotype; the longest coat in the ghetto with henchmen dancing attendance. His character softens because he calls a ceasefire and the treatment of the peace process is farcical. A Sky News 30-second report from Belfast would have more depth.
This is supposed to be Belfast in the 90s but it seems more like the 70s - the 70s, that is, of the director's imagination, with all its false and outmoded notions of life in nationalist districts and of the IRA. This has nothing to do with the communities that we know. In this film they are sullen, broken and derelict like their crumbling environment.
Sheridan displays a lack of basic understanding of republican politics, the dynamic of the conflict and the motivation of those involved. In both Some Mother's Son and In the Name of the Father the need to portray actual events anchored the films to reality and gave them their strength. This fictional farrago sees Sheridan slipping anchor and drifting helpessly. The plot, despite the well-executed twist in the end, is
wafer thin. The film is full of absurd and implausible incidents, notably the boxing match in Belfast city centre which ends in a riot.
But what about the Boxer himself, you ask. As usual, Daniel Day Lewis's acting is flawless but the material he has been given is threadbare. An hour and 53 minutes of brooding by an introverted ex-prisoner is too much to take.
Emily Watson acts well as Maggie, Day Lewis's lover who married his best friend when the Boxer was in jail. But again the script is woeful.
A central theme of the film is the plight of prisoners' wives (never partners or girlfriends since in this world all are married) and the crass handling of it is cringe-making. At the start a youth at a party is threatened with knee-capping by an IRA man for dancing too close with a prisoner's wife. ``This is a film about the emergence of women in this society,'' claims Sheridan in the press handout but I believe republican women and prisoners' families will find it deeply insulting. There are no republican women in their own right, no women prisoners, only ``the wives''.
Says Sheridan: ``The men inside the prison feel that if the women aren't loyal to them, the morale of the army would collapse, so all the women are watched in a kind of self-censorship. Their every move is being watched because of the impact it can have. There is no privacy in this war.''
This is Hollywood hogwash and a parody of the complex reality of relationships between prisoners and their loved ones. But then in this film republicans are not rational human beings making choices, because, according to the blurb ``they are bound by ancient, unquestioning loyalty to the ties of blood, tribe and tradition''.
I can find very little good to say about this movie apart from the laudable efforts of the cast who are the victims of the hideous plot and stilted script of writers Jim Sheridan and Terry George. I don't know much about pugilism but the boxing scenes do look very authentic, conveying the seedy brutality of the fight game. But then it is not really a film about boxing at all. That was the film Jim Sheridan should have made.
By Mícheál Mac Donncha
Screening `98
The Irish Film Centre, in Dublin's Temple Bar, will commemorate the 1798 Rebellion with a fascinating series of films.
On Friday 27 February there will be a screening of Anne Devlin, a film about her experience of the events of 1798 and her role in the 1803 rebellion. The screening will be preceded by a talk by Professor Mary Cullen on the role of women in 1798. The talk is at 8.00pm.
At 2.00pm on Saturday 28 February, four silent films, all made before 1916, will be screened. They are Bold Emmet Ireland's Martyr, For Ireland's Sake, Rory O'More and Ireland a Nation.
On the same day, at 5.30pm, two pieces of non-fiction footage of 20th Century 1798 commemorative events which have recently come to light will be shown. They record events in Belfast and in Wexford. There will also be a screening of Who Fears to Speak of `98, a documentary about the 150th anniversary of the rebellion, and a more recent fictional account, It's Handy When People Don't Die.
The two days of films will be launched at 6.30pm on Friday 27 February by Fianna Fáil Minister of State Seamus Brennan, who is also the Chair of the Dublin government's 1798 Commemorative Committee.
All the events are free, but booking is on a first-come, first-served basis.