Lights Out Movie Reviews
Copyright (c) 1994, Bruce Diamond
All rights reserved




        Ŀ
           IN THE NAME OF THE FATHER:  Jim Sheridan, director.     
           Terry George and Jim Sheridan, screenplay.  Based on    
           Gerry Conlon's autobiography, PRESUMED INNOCENT.        
           Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Peter Postlethwaite, Emma    
           Thompson, John Lynch, Corin Regrave, Beatie Edney,      
           and John Benfield.  Universal Pictures.  Rated R.       
        

          So where does real cruelty exist?  Is institutionalized
     cruelty inherently eviler than random acts of guerrilla warfare
     and/or terrorism?  Ask a member of British government, you'll get
     one answer; ask an IRA terrorist, and you'll get the polar
     opposite.  Caught in the middle is the apolitical, petty thief
     Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis), who happens to be of the wrong
     nationality, in the wrong place, at the wrong time.  When the IRA
     blows up a London pub, killing five people and wounding dozens
     more, Conlon and three of his mates are tagged as the scapegoats,
     sentenced to life in prison with no hope of parole.  Also caught
     in the government's web of deceit and false accusations are
     Conlon's father, Guiseppe (Peter Postlethwaite), amongst other
     family members.

          If this hadn't actually happened, you'd probably find
     yourself shaking your head over the alleged improprieties
     attributed to the British government.  Indeed, you'd say to your-
     self, who could believe that a self-declared democracy would
     *knowingly* punish innocent people, especially *after* they learn
     the truth behind the incident?  Something like this happens only
     in countries like China or Russia, right, where civil rights are
     routinely trampled under the State's hobnailed boots?  It can't
     happen in 1974 London.

          Wrong.  It can, and it did, and what makes it even more
     reprehensible is the British government *covered up* its own
     ineptitude, its own *crimes*, for 15 YEARS.  In a way, justice
     was eventually served, but not for everyone concerned, and not as
     far-reaching as it should have been (according to the final text
     that appears on-screen).  No matter where you stand on Ireland/
     England relations or the official status of the IRA and its
     political arm, the Sinn Fein, you'll find yourself outraged that
     a supposedly free country can run roughshod over an individual
     any time it wants to.  Without getting onto a soapbox, I hasten
     to add that it happens in this country, too -- and all too often.

          Daniel Day-Lewis has got to be one of the ten best actors
     working in film today.  He molds himself so *perfectly* to the
     role he's portraying, subsumes himself so completely into his
     character, that you can't imagine anyone else in the part.  Day-
     Lewis breathes life into characters that are already multi-
     dimensional, that's how talented he is.  Practically anyone with
     a modicum of talent can make a one-dimensional character come to
     life (witness nearly any role that the classically-hammy William
     Shatner takes on, even aside from Captain Kirk), but to take such
     complex, diverse roles as Christy Brown in MY LEFT FOOT (1990),
     Hawkeye in LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1992), Newland Archer in THE AGE
     OF INNOCENCE, and Gerry Conlon in the film under discussion (per-
     haps the roughest and most blue-collar of the four named roles)
     and make every one of them a distinct person is the work of a
     true artist.  Watch Day-Lewis as he ages Conlon from an aimless
     street punk to a bitter, determined adult, wise to the ways of
     those in power and wary of those who wield it.  His very bearing,
     how he carries himself, the purpose that comes into his stride
     and into his stare, make Gerry Conlon that much more real, and
     his plight that much more painful.

          Almost as astonishing is Peter Postlethwaite as Conlon's Da,
     a man caught up in the confusion of his son's celebrated arrest.
     The screenplay twists convention and fact by pairing father and
     son in the same prison cell, but what we learn about their
     relationship, and how adversity actually strengthened it,
     couldn't have been depicted any other way.  It's a brave story-
     telling choice, based on fact and an existing autobiography as
     this movie is, but it works.  In fact, it may have worked too
     well, in that after the initial set-tos about their situation,
     Conlon Senior and Junior become almost otherworldly in their
     solidarity and respect for each other.  Surely, the real-life
     Conlon analogs still had their disagreements, but after Guiseppe
     falls ill in prison, the movie shows nothing but sweetness and
     light between them.  The smoother relationship allows the movie
     to focus more on Gerry's discussions with the lawyer who
     eventually takes on their case against the British government
     (played a little *too* intensely by Emma Thompson), but it does
     show how distorted even a right-minded film like IN THE NAME OF
     THE FATHER can become.

          You might be surprised that even though this film seems like
     a diatribe against the British government, the IRA is portrayed
     in an unflattering light as well.  I was pleased with the presen-
     tation of cold fact, rather than the patriotic banner that the
     story could have easily metamorphosed into.  IN THE NAME OF THE
     FATHER is even-handed in its indictments, and eminently watchable
     for its compelling story of wrongs committed and made right.

     RATING:  9 out of 10
