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| Fifty Dead Men Walking (15)
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Dir. Kari Skogland, UK/Canada, 2008, 118 mins, with subtitles if appropriate
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Jim Sturgess, Natalie Press
Review by Carol Allen
This thriller set in the strife torn Belfast of the eighties is, the film makers carefully say, "inspired" by the story of Martin McGartland, who acted as an informant from inside the IRA for the British and through his actions, according to the film, saved the lives of at least fifty men, hence the title. McGartland today is still on the run from the IRA and will probably never see his family again.
In the eighties Martin (Sturgess) was a cheeky young spiv type in Belfast, scraping a living with his best mate Sean (Kevin Zegers) selling clothing door to door in a city where Catholics were heavily discriminated against in the job market and subject to the sort of stop and search tactics by the authorities, of which young black men in England complain today. It's as a result of one such incident, when Martin's hauled in by the Brits but refuses to grass on his own community, that he attracts the attention of both the IRA and Special Branch officer Fergus (Kingsley). After he is unwittingly involved in an IRA bomb incident and its resultant carnage, he agrees to work undercover for Fergus.
Canadian writer/director Skogland wisely gives a quick resume in Fergus's voice over narration of the history of the troubles for today's audience, many of whom will have little or no knowledge of the situation. There are places however where subtitles might have been helpful, as the authentic Belfast accents of the characters sometimes make it difficult to follow some of the details of the plot. There is no problem however in following the often graphically disturbing but fully justified scenes of violence and torture, as when the IRA cripple a teenage boy by kneecapping him and the brutal torture of a suspected traitor to the cause, which Martin is forced to witness and indeed hold a gun to the head of the victim.
Sturgess is very good as Martin, as is Kingsley, giving an effectively low key performance as Fergus, an honourable man, whose background is subtly sketched in, while Press has some effective moments as Martin's girlfriend, later the mother of his child. The film moves at a good pace, though the rocky nature of some of the handheld camerawork sometimes induces dizziness rather than tension, but the climax of film in particular totally grips the attention. It is though the relationship between the two men and Fergus's sense of responsibility towards his agent, which gives the story its power in its central theme of honour and courage in a world, which is otherwise largely shown as one of betrayal, deceit, violence and intransigence on both sides. |
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