TITANIC TOWN A film review by David N. Butterworth Copyright 2000 David N. Butterworth
*** (out of ****)
Of all the films about The Troubles, Northern Ireland's 25+ year politico-religious struggle with its neighbor from across the Irish Sea, the newly-released "Titanic Town" brings the day-to-day horrors of a family forced to cope with British occupation to the fore better than any other.
Less intent on airing its own political views, the focus in Roger Michell's film is on the McPhelimy's--mother Bernie (Julie Walters), father Aidan (Ciarán Hinds), and their growing family of four.
And it's the daily difficulties of raising children under such extreme conditions that makes this true-life saga so powerful. British troops run rampant through their West Belfast housing estate, conducting nightly raids; Saracen tanks and armored vehicles carve huge furrows across their lawns; and the sounds of gunfire, explosions, breaking glass, and screaming neighbors are a constant.
Michell made "Notting Hill" and here's another fine film that looks a foregone conclusion on the surface yet proves to be surprisingly potent once it starts to get inside the means and motivations of its central characters.
The Irish Republican Army's claim that they are "for the people" is questioned in this story of a naďve yet courageous Catholic woman who challenges both the Provisionals and the British government by forming a peace movement. All that Bernie McPhelimy wants, at least initially, is to establish a normal living environment for her family. Normal in the sense of "no shooting during daylight hours," that is.
Walters is a knock-out as the attention-seeking Bernie who puts her family in the frontline by expressing her views publicly, in town meetings and later on television. Walters' Irish accent is impeccable and her performance truly dominant; this is easily the actor's best role since "Educating Rita" (in fact, she might well have bettered herself here).
Hinds is no less impressive in a more subdued role. With a look of Alan Bates, his Aidan is a scared, powerless man whose ulcer causes him to double up in pain every time a mortar shell cracks or a brick comes crashing through the dining room window. A particularly telling scene shows him watching from an upstairs bedroom window while his wife grapples with an armed demonstrator on their front stoop.
In addition to the film's absorbing central theme, there's also a well-developed subplot in which Annie, the McPhelimy's teenage daughter (an outstanding Nuala O'Neill), fosters a relationship with a young medical student (nicely played by Ciarán McMenamin). Their introduction on a double-decker bus is a stunner: before they've exchanged so much as a couple of words, the bus is stoned and firebombed by demonstrators in the Falls Road, a particularly volatile section of the city.
It's scenes like these in which "Titanic Town" (named for the place in which they built the ill-fated liner) hits home time and time again. For all the false hopes and promises of a ceasefire, for all the political rhetoric, those affected the most are the living, breathing inhabitants of the city of Belfast. And in this gritty, realistic, and excellently acted film, those daily horrors are uncompromisingly brought to life.
-- David N. Butterworth dnb@dca.net
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