In The Name of the Father
A big financial, critical and award success, In the Name of the Father is a fascinating film. Led by an electric and humane performance from Daniel Day Lewis as Gerry Conlon, the story of the conviction of the Guilford Four is a tragic and appalling one. Conlon was convicted alongside Paul Hill (John Lynch), Carole Richardson (Beatie Edney) and Paddy Armstrong (Mark Sheppard) of the Guilford bombing with the Maguire Seven convicted of handling explosives. The Maguire Seven also included Gerry’s father Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite) which forms the backbone of the film.
There are moments in this film that will rightly make you boil with anger. The torture scenes that elicit the confessions are harrowing. These scenes just about make up for the maddening inaccuracies that litter the film. There is sound film reasoning for putting Gerry and Giuseppe in the same prison cell (more anon) but there really is no excuse for the legal inaccuracies in the court room scenes of the film. There is an argument that for a film about the truth there is a responsibility on the filmmaker to be as accurate as possible. This could be aimed at Sheridan but the passionate and righteous anger about the injustice that radiates from the film just about gets him past this. The film curiously only concentrates on two of the Guilford Four with Carole Richardson and Paddy Armstrong relegated to the background for the most part.
Ultimately the film is given its power by the relationship between Gerry and Giuseppe. In terms of accuracy the sharing of a cell during the film rankles, but in terms of creating intimacy and the bridging of a struggling relationship it may well be a masterstroke by Sheridan. A huge part of this is of course down to Day Lewis and Postlethwaite who are excellent actors. The latter is perhaps still under appreciated and his Giuseppe is a gentle and loving soul and a perfect foil for the inhumanity the film wades in for the most part.
CinÉireann / December 2017 53