Good: I walked for an hour to reach the cinema and then walked home after. The director was in attendance and the Q & A was most interesting and helped explain many things. The film dealt with a violent historical time in Ireland (1980’s) and I wanted to know more about it. I realize that this is a fictional account of a Belfast man hired by the English to rat on his IRA friends. He did this for several years and almost ended up dead. He is still in hiding somewhere and threats continue on his life.
The acting was superb. Jim Sturgess played the part of Martin McGartland. His acting truly was phenomenal. Ben Kingsley aptly played the part of Martin’s boss.
Bad: I can only stand so much torture. The killing and torture was endless. I couldn’t look at half of the film. The Irish accent was so strong I couldn’t understand half of what they were saying and that was very frustrating. I also confess to getting the characters confused at times. They all wore black leather jackets.
The filming was in a dreary black and white to fit the mood. The director stated that she wanted the film to have a vintage quality but not appear as an old film. She stated that she did not want this to be a political film. It was a journey of one man and a story about the troubles in Ireland. The writer director, Kari Skogland is Canadian. She was motivated when she read the book by the same name. She feels that the troubles are relevant to what is going on today.
Just for interest sake she commented on how fabulous it was to work with Ben Kingsley. She called him the ‘ultimate professional.’
The filming was done in Belfast and the director stated that it was important to be sensitive to the people of Belfast. They are still ‘smarting’ over the fact that their comrade was a turncoat.
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