114. Belfast Child &...

Lyrics

When my love said to me
Meet me down by the gallow tree
For its sad news I bring
About this old town and all that it's suffering
Some say troubles are bound
Someday soon there gonna pull the old town down
One day we'll return here
When the Belfast child sings again

Brother sister where are you now
I don't look for you right through the crowd
All my life here I've spent
With my faith in god our church and the government
Some say troubles are bound
Someday soon there gonna pull the old town down
One day we'll return here
When the Belfast child sings again
When the Belfast child sings again

So come back Billy won't you come on home
Come back Mary you've been away so long
The streets are empty and your momma's gone
The girls are crying it's been oh so long
And your fathers calling come on home
Oh wont you come on home come on home

Oh come back people you've been gone awhile
And the war is raging on the emerald isle
There's flesh and blood there there's flesh and blood
All the girls are crying but all's not lost
Well the streets are empty the streets are cold
Oh wont you come on home come on home
The streets are empty

But life goes on

One day we'll return here
When the Belfast child sings again
When the Belfast child sings again

I had never heard of this song before knowing Radio 2's top 2000, and I have never heard it outside the context of this list. War-themed songs seem to really attract Radio 2's voters, because I cannot imagine any different context in which this song is more popular than Don't You Forget About Me. Nevertheless this song is quite good and allowed me to link it to a better film than The Breakfast Club. I think that film is OK, but is certainly not some sort of classic in its genre. I will write about it later on, as Don't You Forget About Me does (of course) feature on Radio 2's list. 

The Movie: In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan, 1993)

As you see I haven't published on this blog since august. I was doing an internship, while at the same time writing from home for a financial website. I did not have much time for this blog. I hope that will not be the case in my next job, as I really enjoy this. In any case, after my internship (about which I will write some day) ended I discovered Hamilton, Lin Manuel Miranda's brilliant hip-hop musical about the life of founding father Alexander Hamilton. I obviously haven't been able to see the stage play, but the songs were enough to convince me that this is one of the best things ever created, in any medium. Most historical fiction, including In the Name of the Father, really cannot hold a candle to Miranda's play. Having said that, this film is quite good, especially during its first half. Besides no film with Pete Postlethwaite and Daniel Day-Lewis can be any less than enjoyable. 

During its first hour In the Name of the Father is exceptional. It shows exactly how and why Gerry Conlon (Day-Lewis) could be indicted for a bombing he did not commit. Even more importantly, it shows how Gerry is helpless to do anything about it. He is a cog in the machine who needs to be indicted, so the British police can save its face. The screenplay and Sheridan's direction is relentless. It shows with every progressing scene how Gerry is more and more being stripped of his agency, and is helpless to do anything about it.. It is unflinching in showing how the abuse heaped on him by the British police, and legal system, led to his indictment, and the indictment of 10 others, including Gerry's father Giuseppe (Postlethwaite).   

Once in prison, the film becomes a character study that rather wonderfully portrays the complicated relationship between Gerry and Giuseppe. They love, but don't really understand, each other. The dialogue makes very well clear what the problems between them are, but Sheridan achieves way more by just putting Postlethwaite and Day-Lewis in the same frame and focusing on their anguished faces, often in long takes. Of course as the film progresses Gerry and Giusuppe grow closer together and create a stronger bond, but to the film's great credit, it does not turn their relationship into a simple-minded feel-good story. In their final scene together, Giuseppe reveals that he doesn't believe Gerry can take care for his mother after he dies. 

Unfortunately in other aspects, the film does make us of unfortunate cliches about redemption. I read the film was criticized for including the completely fictional Joe, who in the film confesses to the bombing Gerry is accused for. I do not really mind this, except for the fact that Joe is used rather badly. The film needs Joe to show that Gerry becomes a better man in prison. Gerry, before entering prison was a petty thief from Belfast. His father sent him to London to have a better life, only he ended up living in a hippie community, and then us a a bum on the streets. Through the vile Joe, Sheridan shows us that Gerry in prison becomes a more cultured, loving person, someone we should really care for. 

This portrayal of Gerry and Joe is unfortunate for two reasons. First of all, Joe is actually a quite interestingly conceived character who could have been used to explore the conflict between Brittain and Ireland in a more interesting, layered way. Sheridan completely scrambles that opportunity. More importantly, the movie really should not go to great lengths to show that Gerry becomes a good person who we should care for. It is irrelevant. We should care for him because he is an innocent person thrown in jail, because evidence against him was fabricated. That should be enough to make us root for Gerry's release from prison. That would still make the final 10 minutes of the film, the trial where Gerry is acquitted, incredibly powerful. For that Emma Thompson deserves a lot of credit too. She is only in the film for a short time, but her performance as the passionate lawyer Gareth Peirce is very good. She got an Oscar nomination, meaning that at the 1994 Oscars two actresses were nominated for both a leading and a supporting role. Emma Thompson for respectively The Remains of the Day and this film. And Holly Hunter for The Piano and The Firm. I have now discussed three f those films on this blog. While I liked this film a lot, I think The Piano and The Remains of the Day are way better, richer films.