Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, February 12, 1994 TAG: 9402120008
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: B-10 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By MIKE MAYO CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
It's a powerful, emotionally complex mix of family relationships and political intrigue. But, be warned: Director/co-writer Jim Sheridan has taken liberties with the truth in turning inconvenient history into crowd-pleasing entertainment.
He and Gerry Conlon, whose story is the basis for the film, have been on tour publicizing it. In an interview, Sheridan said "It's to blur the lines between reality and drama that interests me. I suppose that's why I do true stories."
Most of the changes are matters of compression and streamlining that any conventional narrative film would have to employ. Other blurred lines are more troubling - more about those later - but the bones of the story are not in dispute.
In 1974, Gerry Conlon (Daniel-Day Lewis) was an apolitical, irresponsible young man from Belfast sowing wild oats in London. He'd already had a run-in with the IRA. In fact, his father, Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), had urged him to get out of Northern Ireland before he got into real trouble. But while Gerry was away, the IRA expanded its terrorist activities and bombed two pubs in Guildford, a small town near London.
Conlon was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, a law that allows the police to hold anyone for seven days on no evidence and without access to a lawyer. He and several others who eventually became known as the Guildford Four were coerced into confessions. His father was arrested, too. They were convicted and sent to prison.
That's where much of the film takes place, and there the focus shifts from "the Troubles" to the relationship between the father and son. At first, Gerry is still immature, unable to take his situation seriously or to understand his father's ceaseless efforts to obtain a new trial. He even takes the side of the IRA when a terrorist, Joe McAndrew (Don Baker), is sent to his cellblock. But the film makes it clear that, in human terms, the IRA is even more ruthless than the British authorities.
Over time, Gerry and his father change. The scenes involving Day-Lewis and Postlethwaite are the real heart of the story, and they're brightened by unexpected humor. Both have been nominated for Oscars and have to be considered real contenders.
Fairly late in the story, a lawyer, Gareth Peirce (Emma Thompson, also nominated), takes the Conlons' case and forces a re-examination of the evidence. Then, briefly, the film becomes a sharp courtroom drama with a rousing conclusion.
It ends on such an emotional high note that it's easy to forget or overlook some of Sheridan's "blurred lines." What, for example, are viewers to make of the fact that scientific evidence proved that some members of Conlon's family had been handling explosives? It's right there in the film, but when he's asked about it, Sheridan rubs his face and admits, "That's a very difficult story. You know, the complexity of that story is like . . . " The words trail off as he waves his hands in the air and leans back in his chair.
Conlon picks up the slack with an anecdote about a forensics expert privately admitting that he'd lied in court, but the story is still vague. It's also a curious lapse if indeed the entire Conlon family is completely innocent.
Also, Conlon says that despite physical torture, he confessed only after the police threatened his family. "They obviously had gathered all this information on them within a very short period of time," he said, "and the situation being as it is in the north of Ireland, I had absolutely no doubts that these threats were very real."
But, in that confession, he implicated his own family. According to published reports, some of them still have not forgiven him.
Still, neither of those changes have anything substantial to do with the central facts of the story. It wouldn't be fair to reveal any more of those, but the American audiences who will be moved by "In the Name of the Father" should remember that it's entertainment, not history, not current events. And despite Sheridan and Conlon's attempts to be even-handed, there are other sides to this complicated story.
In the Name of the Father: ***
A Universal release playing at the Grandin Theatre. 127 min. Rated R for strong language, some violence, drug use.
by CNB