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All Movie Info
Starring:
Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Alan Rickman, Stephen Rea, Julia Roberts, Ian Hart, Sean McGinley, Gerard McSorley, Brendan Gleeson, Charles Dance, Jonathan Rhys Meyers
Directed By:
Neil Jordan
Written By:
Neil Jordan
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Michael Collins (1996)
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Movie Review by Jarrod
April 29th, 2008
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'Michael Collins' is a stirring and powerful drama about the famous Irish revolutionary, who led his countrymen in their fight for independence from Great Britain. We first meet him at the Easter Rising in 1916, which ends in disaster after a standoff with the British army. Michael (Liam Neeson) and his comrades are captured; many are executed, but he and a few others survive. One of them is Eamon de Valera (Alan Rickman), who eventually becomes president of Ireland; he was born in America, and hopes to travel there and seek support from Woodrow Wilson, who talks after WWI of national self-determination, rhetoric that is particularly appealing to the Irish. De Valera is more a politician than a warrior; Michael is a solid mixture of both, a popular and charismatic statesman who is loved by millions, and hated, of course, by occupation officials. Michael finds an unlikely ally in Ned Broy (Stephen Rea), who gives him inside information and allows him access to government files, which tips him off about raids and helps him, dodge the authorities desperately searching for him. He can walk or bicycle safely through Dublin, even with a bounty on his head, because no one knows what he looks like. Winston Churchill, acting perhaps on the orders of Prime Minister David Lloyd George, sends secret service agents to get rid of Collins once and for all; he decides to strike at them first, and he also instructs his men to hunt down and kill all collaborators and informants they can find, which unleashes a wave of terrible violence and invites reprisal from England, which Collins fully expects. In one scene, a tank rolls into a sports stadium and opens fire on the athletes and the spectators, a cruel demonstration of British might and will.
Collins's best friend is Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn), to whom he is fiercely loyal. Harry becomes involved with Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts), and then goes with De Valera to America, and while he is gone, Kitty falls in love with Michael, which creates tension between him and Harry, but does not completely destroy their relationship. That happens after Michael, through his guerilla war campaign, forces the British to the bargaining table, where they are willing to sign a truce. Ireland is divided, the North remains under British rule, the South is granted autonomy. Michael is willing to accept this as a steppingstone to the establishment of a full republic in the future, but De Valera and his colleagues reject it, and prefer to keep fighting. Harry sides with De Valera. De Valera is painted here as a villain; I don't know how historically accurate that is, but Rickman is extremely good nonetheless, and makes De Valera into a weak and stubborn man, who never seems to lose his respect for Michael, but is implicated as being involved, or at least knowing about, the plot against him, that ultimately leads to his assassination. At one point, he criticizes Michael for obstructing the peace process through his use of violence, and then seems to persuade Michael to work out a deal he himself devised, but does not want to be identified with. He is resentful of Michael's popularity, and desires it for himself, and attempts to become like Michael by calling for a continuance of bloodshed rather than an unfair treaty.
Neeson, of course, is captivating, investing his performance with zeal, charm, and conviction. Quinn and Neil Jordan regular Stephen Rea are terrific. The weak link is Roberts, whose character is completely unnecessary. The film drips with authentic detail, and remarkable cinematography from Chris Menges (there is a scene at the end, right before Michael is shot, where we get a sprawling, breathtaking view of the lush Irish countryside). Writer-director Neil Jordan does not flinch from depictions of violence; dozens of people are killed during the course of the movie, usually with guns. He is obviously sympathetic to Collins and his cause, and may even romanticize him; many would probably call Michael a terrorist instead of a hero; in fact, many in Ireland even felt betrayed by him following the treaty. But history has remembered him rather fondly.
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