Rent In the Name of the Father (1993)

Decent film - In the Name of the Father review by TH

Day Lewis is a revelation in the lead role and the story is hard hitting. This will stay with you after the credit roles on misjustice and the attempts society can go to in order to cover up their own crimes.

Day-Lewis & Postlethwaite are electric in this furious scream against injustice & legal miscarriages - In the Name of the Father review by TB

In 1989, Daniel Day-Lewis & director Jim Sheridan worked together on the nano-budget film My Left Foot. A small little Irish production (which was repeatedly nearly shut down due to lack of money,) about the celebrated disabled artist Christy Brown became a cultural behemoth, winning Day-Lewis his 1st Oscar and making megabucks at the box office, as well as being for me Day-Lewis's best film. Following this success, Sheridan was given the budget and power to make anything he wanted & there had been a shattering, seismic miscarriage of justice involving Irish nationals which was a story he had to tell.

Ireland, the 1970's. The Troubles are ripping the two countries apart, with British military in the thick of it, trying to keep the peace but inflaming the tinderbox. In the midst of this is Gerry Conlon, a ragamuffin petty thief who is working several scams in Belfast & just about getting away with it. One day, whilst stealing lead, he is mistaken for a sniper and nearly shot. After this, his father desperately sends him away to England, trying to force him to change his ways & remove him from the carnage of his homeland. The same time period he arrives, the Guildford pub bombings occur. Conlon & 3 others are arrested and forced into making false confessions, which also wrongly implicates his father & extended family. Jailed for life, they desperately fight to clear their names against impossible odds as well as the deliberate sabotage by the UK Government.

This film, like Mr Bates Vs the Post Office, leaves you furious. White-hot anger. It shows viscerally what happens when a desperate political & legal system makes a catastrophic series of mistakes, which due to the massive pressure to catch the perpetrators, it continues to pursue, even after proof emerges that the wrong people are being accused. For a large number of people, including me, the Troubles & the violence of that time are something we don't really remember, due to when we were born. But for decades, Irish republicanism & the violence it inspired was huge.

The story takes pains to show the truth about Conlon & his early life. He is sometimes an unlikable protagonist, especially in his early days as a petty thief, but never is reduced to a single character trait. He has a solid heart & is in many ways a victim of his circumstances. When people live around constant tension & the threat of violence, some cave in whilst others become rebellious and fight back. Conlon is a free spirit looking for fun & adventure, but is never for a second someone who would pick up arms & fight.

The scenes of him being arrested, tortured & then imprisoned when you know that he is totally innocent are excruciating to watch. And then to see his hopes raised & destroyed repeatedly rubs salt in the wound. But there is incredible poignancy amongst the hell, especially in the scenes with his father. And that's where this wronged man starts to become the legal juggernaut who, alongside his legal team, eventually exposes the evil miscarriage of justice to the world.

Day-Lewis is staggering, as is Postlethwaite. Their chemistry is electric, their father-son relationship heart-breakingly real. As Conlon Snr grows weaker, you feel the fear that he will die inside jail as a wronged man. And rounding it off is Thompson as the electric Gareth Pierce, the lawyer who was dogged in her determination to exonerate her client, who she knows is innocent. As the film builds to the final courtroom showdown, the momentum & energy is electric, such is the power of the acting & direction. But also, when the inevitable happens, followed by the credits which detail the subsequent events where not 1 of the people responsible within law enforcement are held to account, you are left with a bitter taste in your mouth. Which is exactly how it should be.

Powerful & incredible filmmaking

Remarkable True Story - In the Name of the Father review by PT

Voodoo child (slight return) by Jimi Hendrix blasts out as Gerry Conlon (D D Lewis) strips lead from a roof. Mistaken for a sniper by the British army they try to shoot him, miss, and Gerry flees for his life with the army hot in pursuit. This early scene is fantastic and shows how the Irish people rally around to take care of their brethren.

The IRA are fed up of Gerry's continuous antics and threaten to blow his knee caps off. Gerry's father turns up and the IRA give the young rascal a final warning.

So Gerry heads for England to get out of the dangerous situation in Northern Ireland. Once on the mainland Gerry just lives it up in a hippy commune, getting high and looking for the easy buck, which includes burglary.

Following the Guilford bombing Gerry and his Irish friends are fingered for the crime. His arrest prompts his father and other family members to come from Ireland to support Gerry.

What follows is quite unbelievable. No spoilers here, but it's jaw dropping stuff that lead to the convictions of all.

Gerry's father engages the lawyer Emma Thompson to prove his innocence. Gerry trusts no English people, period and at first doesn't want to know. A turning point comes for Gerry when he says to Thompson , "they fouled the ball". An important statement that has a double meaning, ie, he accepts the lawyers help, and secondly it's an admittance that his father was right about things (as you will get when you watch). So Thompson goes about her business trying to prove his innocence through police corruption.

Outstanding performances from Lewis, Postlethwaite and Thompson make this a cracking film.