MICHAEL COLLINS 1996
A film review by Timothy Voon
Copyright 1997 Timothy Voon
Cast: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Julia Roberts, Alan Rickman, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart, Brendan Gleeson, Stuart Graham, Charles Dance Director: Neil Jordan Screenplay: Neil Jordan
'An eye for an eye', and a dead cabinet minister for every year under British Rule. That would mean 800 years, and a lot of dead ministers. Not a good idea, but when desperation becomes despair, people will do anything to succeed. I say 'turn the other cheek', but that's Tim Voon speaking, not Michael Collins.
So the year is around 1915, and the republic of Ireland is having problems establishing their independence. In the midst of this unsettled times, rises a man by the name 'Michael Collins' who has a single, focused vision for his nation - freedom! Rough around the edges, gritty and plain spoken, this working class man, who in another time and place could have been an ordinary husband, father and brother; employs guerrilla tactics, to achieve his end. His philosophy summarised would be, 'when no one listens, act.' Which in no uncertain terms means assassinations and explosions, with the occasional innocent sacrificed for the cause.
Liam Neeson, Scottish? Irish? English? Plays Collins down to a very fine line of detailed particulars - of note is the Irish accent, which Aidan Quinn and Julia Roberts have some difficulty mastering (they are after all American). The director has captured the beauty of Ireland at its grim best. Heavy, dark grey clouds, threatening to unleash its heavy burden upon cold, colourless, slate roof tops and soot filled chimneys, puffing smog upwards to the already overcast sky. Cobbled streets, filled with the hustle, bustle, day to day mundane, chore-laden pedestrian darting through and fro, avoiding the clip-clapper of horses pounding their hooves on lifeless stone roads. Add to this the rit-rattle of ricocheting bullets, tall smoking buildings, and distant screams and you have for yourself a city in distress.
The result of these extreme measures, is history itself. The establishment of the independent self-ruling state of Ireland. Not independence, but neither is Australia (an ex-penal colony). The treaty with the British, resulted in disunity and disharmony amongst the IRA, with a resulting split; but Collins the soldier, a product of years of resentment of English rule, knows when to stop fighting and regain his humanity - to once again become Collins the working man.
This is not a particularly uplifting movie by any accounts, but it does tell a story of an ordinary man forced to make difficult decisions under very tense circumstances. Whether the details of the plot are accurate, I do not know; but if in doubt, all you have to do is open the pages of a British history book to find the name 'Michael Collins' included within.
Comment: I say, passive resistance on this occasion for added variation.
Revolutionary Feel Scale: 0% Hitler \ *MICHAEL COLLINS* \ Gandhi 100%
Timothy Voon e-mail: stirling@netlink.com.au
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