Michael Collins (1996)

Director:

Neil Jordan

Writer:

Neil Jordan (written by)

Release Date:

11 October 1996 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | Thriller | War

Tagline:

Ireland, 1916. His dreams inspired hope. His words inspired passion. His courage forged a nation's destiny.

Plot:

Michael Collins plays a crucial role in the establishment of the Irish Free State in the 1920s, but becomes vilified by those hoping to create a completely independent Irish republic.

Plot Keywords:

Independence | Assassination | Rebellion | 1920s | Liberty

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 4 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Ian Hart	...	Joe O'Reilly
Julia Roberts	...	Kitty Kiernan
Richard Ingram	...	British Officer
Liam Neeson	...	Michael Collins
Aidan Quinn	...	Harry Boland
John Kenny	...	Patrick Pearse
Ronan McCairbre	...	Thomas MacDonagh
Jer O'Leary	...	Thomas Clarke (as Ger O'Leary)
Michael Dwyer	...	James Connolly
Martin Murphy	...	Captain Lee-Wilson
Alan Rickman	...	Eamon de Valera
Sean McGinley	...	Smith
Gary Whelan	...	Hoey
Frank O'Sullivan	...	Kavanagh
Stephen Rea	...	Ned Broy

Runtime:

133 min

Country:

UK | Ireland | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Iceland:14 | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:15 | Philippines:PG-13 | USA:R (certificate #34375) | Canada:14A (TV rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Belgium:KT | Chile:14 | Finland:K-16 | France:U | Germany:16 (bw) | Ireland:12 (video rating) | Ireland:PG | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Broadstone, Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland

Company:

Warner Bros. Pictures

Trivia:

Liam Neeson was 43 when this movie was made. The real-life Michael Collins was 31 when he died.

Goofs:

Errors in geography: During the Easter Rising scenes, the Volunteers and Citizen Army are shown marching out of the General Post Office to surrender. However, the day before the surrender, they had retreated from the burning GPO to another building down the road, and surrendered from there.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Joe O'Reilly: [dictating a letter] You've got to think of him. The way he was... He was what the times demanded. And life without him seems impossible. But he's dead. And life is possible. He made it possible.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: Agent for H.A.R.M. (#9.15)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

She Moved Through The Fair

Deeply flawed but compelling

I saw this first in the now defunct Capitol Cineplex in Cork. I was surprised to see so many senior citizens in the cinema. The cineplex was so scummy it had to be something special to draw them in. Some of them might have been old enough to remember the civil war or at least to have had a close family member killed in it. Many of them were clearly moved by it particularly the end with its archive footage. It is a moving film, but you have to be careful.

One should never confuse history with entertainment and this is not a history lesson. All the major events are there, but there is a horrible bias from the director. I don't like DeValera or what he stood for, but what was hinted at the end in this movie is a travesty. If such a thing is true, you have to prove it, you can't slyly hint at it. There are other insidious things such as mortars and car-bombs which are clear reference to the 1970s-90s Northern conflict. Such weapons did not exist in 1916. To me this is an oblique way of implying that the Provos are somehow the legitimate heirs of the IRA in 1916 which of course they are not.

Despite this I enjoyed the movie a lot. The production values and acting was so good, it really felt like a timewarp. Neil Jordan is a great director, Neeson and Rickman are superb in their parts. Rickman looks so much like DeValera it is uncanny. I even liked Julia Roberts. It looks like she made a fair attempt at a Dun Laoghaire accent and of course it sounded phony. Southside Dublin accents all sound phoney to me anyway so I didn't mind. The best moment was the scene where Collins starts the civil war sitting behind a howitzer aimed at the Four Courts and fires. You can see a huge explosion and bits coming out portico. I actually felt scared that they had damaged this famous Dublin landmark. This won't mean much to someone from overseas, but anyone familiar with the Four Courts and the resident lawyers (sorry "barristers") in their eighteenth century costumes would surely enjoy firing an artillery piece at the overpaid clowns. I wish I had a howitzer like that.