Dir. Joel Schumacher, US/Ireland, 2003, 98 mins
Cast: Cate Blanchett, Gerard McSorley, Ciaran Hinds, Brenda Fricker
Review by Gavin Bush
Famous for Hollywood blockbusters like Top Gun, Armageddon and Pearl Harbour, Jerry Bruckheimer has turned his production skills to the less glamorous real life story of Veronica Guerin, an Irish journalist struggling against drug related crime in 1990s Dublin. He teamed up with the versatile director Joel Schumacher, and they brought in Cate Blanchett for the lead – apparently their first and only choice. The cinematic attractions in Guerin’s story are obvious; she had extraordinary courage and character and ultimately made a difference to her country, or as Schumacher succinctly puts it “She had real balls”.
For anyone unfamiliar with Guerin’s story, the film opens with her murder whilst waiting in her car at traffic lights on the outskirts of Dublin, and then goes back to follow the story of the events that lead up to it. Unlike Lawrence Of Arabia, which also uses this technique to great effect, this decision acts to reduce the potential drama for viewers that are new to the story. Early in the film it becomes clear what a complex character Guerin presents and there is no romanticism in the portrayal that Schumacher and Blanchett have created on screen. Warts and all would be understating it, at times Guerin borders on the irresponsible and egomaniacal, both a reckless driver and unloving mother. Blanchett has a pragmatic motto for all her acting that is particularly apt with Guerin: “Don’t judge your character, don’t fall in love with them, and don’t hate them – that’s up to the audience”. And when Blanchett is inevitably questioned on the motherly failings of her character she is quick to ask if a male actor would be asked the same question. In Veronica Guerin her acting is polished and her Irish accent flawless, but although the Guerin she has created is genuine, Blanchett never manages to transcend her performance; the result is more akin to watching a master technician.
Filmed in Dublin, the location of the real life events, Schumacher has made every effort for authenticity, but unfortunately the squalid inner city slums, riddled with drugs and crime, fail to amount, from a visual perspective, to more than a Government anti-drugs infomercial. Baring a cameo by Colin Farrell, the rest of the cast is comprised from native actors who will generally be unfamiliar to an international audience. The exception is Oscar winning Brenda Fricker who plays Guerin’s mother. Producing gritty and gripping portrayals, the main lead actors are all exceptional. In contrast the supporting cast are, on the whole, stereotypes and would be more at home on the set of Eastenders or a Guy Richie film.
Guerin is relentless in her pursuit of the criminals, seeing them as responsible for causing so much damage on Dublin’s streets with their drug dealing. Using her car as an office she works on the move and makes direct contact with any she suspects on their own territory. This technique proves useful at first and her investigations lead her deeper into the underworld resulting, in a powerful and visceral scene in which Guerin confronts the most ruthless gang leader John Gilligan (Gerard McSorley) on the doorstop of his country mansion. She isn’t prepared for his ensuing attack. There is liberal use of the still taboo “c” word and the violence is graphic and shocking, very much down to the direction. According to Blanchett “it’s a very technical exercise”. Schumacher reveals they shot a television version of every scene to avoid the having to go back and loop it. A wise move as this film will translate well to the small screen. And then he goes on to sum up how he sees the dynamic of the film as “an inexorable dance of death between Veronica and John Gilligan”.
Veronica Guerin is an accomplished film, but there is an edge missing. Could this be down to the blockbuster pedigree of the producer with his eye on the American box office? This leaves you wondering if this story would have faired better under the hands of a British or, ideally, Irish director, both closer to the subject and arguably better equipped to bring out the depth that this story demands.
Editor’s Note:
The story of murdered journalist Veronica Guerin was previously told on screen in 2000 with John Mackenzie’s (The Long Good Friday) When the Sky Falls, starring Joan Allen as Guerin’s alter-ego, Sinead Hamilton, and Patrick Bergin as a maverick-cop Sergeant Mackey. Guerin herself had collaborated with screenwriter Michael Sheriden before her death. This earlier version, influenced by Hollywood style filmmaking, is generally considered to be lacking in gritty realism, presenting both a sanitised Dublin, and a sanitised Guerin.
