Michael Collins

Rating:
Summary: Good but slightly flawed bio on "The Big Fella"
Review: As Michael Collins is going to be one of the three individuals in the Irish independence movement from the Easter Rising to the formation of the Irish Free state that I'll be examining in my senior seminar paper next semester, I refreshed myself in rewatching this movie. Director Neil Jordan (The Crying Game) paints a vivid portrait of the history of the final and crucial Irish Revolution against the British Empire and the man who made it possible, Michael Collins, "The Big Fella," (1890-1922). If one was to make the comparison of the Pen, Voice and the Sword made on the three main people who united Italy (Mazzini, Cavour, and Garibaldi), Collins was Ireland's Garibaldi, but also its Christ.

The movie begins with 29 April 1916, the last day of the Easter Rising, where the undermanned Irish surrendered to superior British artillery. Collins and his friend Harry Boland are captured and fortunately avoid the fate of others like Sean MacDiarmida, and socialist intellectual James Connolly, the latter who is badly wounded and is executed strapped to a chair. Eamon de Valera, future president of Ireland many times over, has his sentence commuted, partially because of his New York birth.

Collins learns from the mistakes of the Rising and with the help of Harry and Joe O'Reilly, sets about creating a band of assassins who use intelligence, wear the uniform as the ordinary man on the street, and the element of surprise to gun down members of the Royal Irish Constabulary and G-Men. Both groups are considered collaborators with the British, traitors to Irish independence. Before long, British elite police auxiliaries, the notoriously brutal Black and Tans are sent in, and they too become targets for the IRA.

There is a standout scene reminiscent of the final scene in the Godfather, where Collins' gunmen take out members of the Cairo Gang, British intelligence specialists who operated in the Middle East and were sent to deal with the IRA, quickly followed by the infamous massacre at a football game, where 14 people, including footballer Sam Hogan, were gunned down by the British searching for Sinn Feiners, and over a hundred wounded. Bloody Sunday indeed! While not condoning the British treatment of the Irish, it shows how retaliatory violence leads to the deaths of the innocent. But as history has shown, there was no other way for the Irish, except by fighting.

Many aspects or themes from Tim Pat Coogan's biography on Collins have either been altered or not emphasized, which is understandable for a movie with limited running time. For example, Ned Broy, the G-man who secretly helps Collins, survived instead of being tortured and killed. Three Irishmen were tortured and executed the day before, and Jordan clearly decided to use their deaths and Broy as a composite character. Another is the band of assassins Collins uses to carry out his hits. Coogan's book refers to them as the Twelve Apostles, which using a Christ-like metaphor to Collins as the saviour of Ireland. That isn't alluded to here, which is unfortunate. And the action slows down in the final quarter hour, a contrast to the first two hours.

The leads do well, Liam Neeson (Collins), Aidan Quinn (Harry Boland), Julia Roberts (Kitty), Alan Rickman (de Valera), and Ian Hart (Joe O'Reilly). The latter two would be reunited in the first Harry Potter movie as Professor Snape and Quirrel, respectively.

Those who know the story of Michael Collins will know how the story ends, but there is cutting back and forth of scenes of Kitty trying out her wedding dress to the final ambush, with Sinead O'Connor haunting rendition of the traditional "She Moved From The Fair" making it all the more poignant. And de Valera is portrayed as someone who wants independence but with strategic violence, not the bloodbath Collins spreads, and but in the end, a Machiavellian manipulator. Indeed, he did say that Collins legacy came at the cost of de Valera's own standing, and that is definitely true in this movie.

Rating:
Summary: Accurate, honest, profound
Review: This film brings home to us that the loser of this war was (and is) Ireland herself. "Michael Collins" is art, and it does all that art can do.

I'd like to address something a thoughtful viewer wrote here: "I am always skeptical of love interests in historical/biographical films of this sort." OK, I buy that. But Kitty Kiernan, Mr. Collins's actual fiancee, becomes in this movie the symbol of Ireland herself/itself. The Irish people traditionally have seen their beloved land as mother, sister, "Dark Rosaleen"... and Miss Roberts's role never panders to viewer's prurient interest. She is the Ireland that both warring "brothers" love, and fight for, and the Ireland that loses them to each other... that's a tragedy of war, this war and others...

The end of the film brings home to us that the loser of this war is Ireland herself. Film cannot *be* life; in that sense it can never be totally accurate. Film can only convey to us what we the audience can recognize. The flags, the accents, the love interests--they are not history but devices to convey history on a flat screen in two hours.

Rating:
Summary: Shallow and inaccurate
Review: Set just after the 1916 Easter Rebellion in Dublin, Neil Jordan's film follows the life and times of Irish revolutionary Michael Collins (Liam Neeson), detailing his relationships with Kitty Kearnan (Julia Roberts), Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn), and Eamon de Valera (Alan Rickman). It essentially covers the period leading up to the Civil War in Ireland, and ultimately Collins' untimely death.
It must be said the movie proves to be an opportunity missed, considering the budget and all involved. While it is usual for historical epics to have inaccuracies, "Michael Collins" is rather a disaster. After a very self conscious opening scene, the film seems to loose it's way and trods a distinctly uneven and incomprehensible path. It tries to hard to be all things: epic war film, romantic movie, and politically descisive. It fails on all counts, essentially because it is biased towards one side of the argument, and ridicules the other. The script seems to make no attempt at exploring the intricacies of the politics involved which led to Civil War, and the picture ends up like something a not very knowledgable schoolboy would write in primary school. Despite Liam Neeson's historonics, the casting in disasterous - particulary Aidan Quinn as an americanised Harry Boland, and Julia Roberts resembling a cross between Maureen O'Hara and Tinkerbell. What ultimately comes across from the acting is a cast who just want to pick up their pay check as quickly as possible and move as swiftly as they can onto their next, more serious, production.
The film is particulary offensive to those brave men and women who would not accept half measures, and took the view that the Anglo Irish Treaty was not the Republic of Easter Week 1916. Certain historical figures are missing, especially Arthur Griffith and Cathal Brugha (although Gerard McSorely appears in a brief scene with a "mcsorely" wig on his head which looks like something one would find in the middle of a cow field.

The Boland familly in general were outraged by the production, and the film did extremely well in Ireland, but flopped like a pan cake outside our four green fields.
It also suffers from the tendency to point to the indigenous population saying "Isn't this cool, we're all so important on this production. Yes I played such and such in the movie". I myself turned down any part of it with utter contempt, as I have taken the view that regardless of what side one was on during the Civil War, all concerned were heroes with no villins. Was Robert E. Lee any less in greatness then Grant? Both men are held with equal respect by the American populace.
RTE produced a much rounded and interesting production "The Treaty" which deals with the period in a more mature, intelligent way. The great Brendan Gleason appears as Collins, and the equally excellent Barry McGovern as de Valera.
"Michael Collins" is a total fiasco and an embarrasement

Rating:
Summary: History comes Alive!
Review: This is a brilliant film! Not only does it have you captivated with the action and romance, but it is pretty accurate. The best thing about this DVD is that you also get the documentary with it that explains why Neil Jordan decided to make this film. I thouroughly recommend this film for anyone remotely interested in Irish history.

Rating:
Summary: Ireland's Greatest son of All
Review: I just finishing wathching the engrossing story of Michael Collins for the second time. I watched this movie the first time, a few years back when the movie was in the theaters and I didn't know who Michael Collins was. Boy, I come a long way, but anyways although I liked movie the first time, I could in no way understand the ramifications of this Irish conflict. After countless reading, I watched Michael Collins last night feeling as if I was watching the movie for the first time. Liam Neilson(sorry for the misplelling) was born to play this role and does it brilliantly. He portrays Collins's character in the light he was famous for, courageous, witty, keen, and always one step a head of the brits and even his comrads. Although I tend to agree Julie Roberts is a bit of a miscast, and I would have loved to see a truly Irish actress tackle the role of Kitty, such as the beatuful actress who played Murron in Bravehear, but all in all Julie Roberts did an admirable job. Overall this is a truly fine film, that depicts Ireland's greatest hero of all, and although he was killed he will never be forgotten.

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Film
Review: I am not qualified to argue the history of modern Ireland, but have a general understanding of it and have experienced British arrogance first hand. No wonder this movie offends Anglophiles. Liam Neeson should have won an Oscar for his portrayal of freedom fighter Michael Collins. The acting and scenery are fantastic and I feel this movie captures the Irish soul. Critics are reduced to sniping at Julia Roberts Irish accent, but she does a fine job overall. If you liked Braveheart, then you will probably enjoy Michael Collins. I came away from this film thinking that Michael Collins is Ireland's greatest hero and would like to know how Irish citizens view the "Big Fellow".

Rating:
Summary: Jordan and Neeson's crowning achievements.
Review: Digging back into their roots, director Neil Jordan and actor Liam Neeson have respectively delivered their most memorable and deep-cutting works to date. Michael Collins has nagging flaws, but in the sweep of the passionate filmmaking and performances, all else is moot. You will be carried forth by the conviction of the story.

Neeson was simply born to play this role. An actor of tremendous power, Neeson is here given a role that's multi-dimensional enough for him to show his formidable chops. The Michael Collins character is alternately a boyish, dashing ladykiller and a tactician with a steel will, and just watching Neeson tackle the character's inner and outer demons is worth the price of the movie. He indeed projects the power and charisma of a great leader in his "our refusal" speech. There's more -- Aidan Quinn gives his best performance as friend-turned-enemy Harry Boland; Alan Rickman utilizes his deadpan comic timing and hidden deviance to perfection as Eamon de Valera; Stephen Rea is great as usual as English traitor Ned Broy. The one weak link is of course Julia Roberts, as Harry and Mick's love interest Kitty, with her bad Irish accent and vacant presence. She's paralyzed by the scope of the historical drama and comes off stiff as a result, injecting the character with neither warmth nor power, and none of her signature girlish exuberance. However, this was one case where the filmmaker's sacrifice of a character was to the benefit of the film. In directing the film, Jordan sliced down Kitty's importance and makes her mostly a footnote; the result is that we are now free to interpret Mick and Harry's split as a philosophical and political one, rather than the ol' romantic triangle. And for the better.

The cinematography is terrific, and the script ranks among my favourite of the '90s. Jordan is deeply tapped into the behaviour and concerns of these characters, and he fills every minute with humour, danger, urgency, and personality. The writing translates onto the screen beautifully, giving the audience an insight into not only the sociological scape of the film, but also the psychological. And the pacing and editing never let up -- from the perfectly chosen "in medias res" opening to the brilliant "Bloody Sunday" assassination montage.

A great neglected classic.

Rating:
Summary: Something else altogether!
Review: I'd usually steer well clear of films with alot of death in them (half because it turns my stomach, and half because it's so fake) but Michael Collins has to be an exception. This film is just so *real* in some parts. You can credibly believe the cruelty being doled out by both sides - neither Irish or English side is idolized as being the righteous one - and the pure shock will have you shaking just as much as the characters on screen.

The relationships here are beautiful, whether they're platonic (Michael's dealings with Harry, his best friend, and De Valera who in certain places would have you believe that they are like brothers) or romantic (with Kitty Keirnan) and the reactions of the actors are fantastic - especially De Valera (Alan Rickman)

However, if you're looking for historical accuracy... read the history first. The film takes plenty of liberties, to the extent of having one attack in Croke Park (Pairc Ui Crochaigh) that never actually happened and inaccuracies in the manner of some deaths.

And good gracious, someone kill Julia Robert's voice coach!

If you'd like to sit down with a moving film that never lets up, Michael Collins is perfect ^^;;

Rating:
Summary: The Story of a Freedom Fighter
Review: Michael Collins was one of the leaders of the Irish Rebellion that finally brought freedom to Ireland. He survived the 1916 Easter Rebellion. The film shows him addressing a crowd, saying they must stay united for independence. The police break up this meeting by beating Michael and the others; no First Amendment here. Michael learns to gather supplies from the enemy, and information from a secret source. Michael is able to infiltrate police headquarters to search their files! He decides to gather information on all of the secret police, and send them warning messages. The organizing continues. Michael helps De Valera escape from prison, and then travel to America to gain support from public opinion and President Wilson. The struggle continues against the Empire. The British stage reprisals at a sports stadium. [Does this look like it was taken from 'Gandhi'?]

De Valera returns from America, and changes the tactics to open warfare; this results in more losses for these urban guerrillas. But De Valera is holding talks with the British; this escalation results in truce talks. Michael is sent to negotiate a treaty with the British. The Irish gain the Free State, but lose the northern counties. [After the Turkish Empire fell, Britain took over the Near East and its oil; Ireland has no oil.] Michael returned as the messenger with bad news. The realistic Michael knows this is a first step towards a Republic. The Treaty is accepted by a narrow margin; De Valera's faction walks out of Parliament in disgust. The Treaty is accepted by the people, and British forces leave in 1922. Those who refuse to accept the Treaty being the Troubles. [There is no mention of the conflicting classes involved.]

De Valera's faction stages an armed takeover in parts of the country. This time it is the Irish Army who puts down the Rebellion, a repeat of the opening scenes. [The scene of the underground chase reminds me of 'The Third Man'.] Michael asks to meet De Valera to arrange an end to the fighting; but he must travel to West Cork, still under De Valera's control. A trap is set to ambush this convoy (the lead rider wasn't far enough in advance to send a warning). Michael is shot and killed; De Valera becomes the unopposed leader (no explanations why). After WW II and a weakened British Empire, Ireland becomes a Republic. The northern counties are still separated (so far).

This film condenses the story of the Irish Revolution down to the interplay between a few personalities. The political and economic issues are skipped over, but this would make it educational rather than entertaining. The lack of a happy ending suggests a commercial failure. Those who know the history of those times can say how accurate this film is. Did Michael Collins have the support of those who wanted normal trade relations with Britain? Did De Valera represent the farmers? Was their rivalry comparable to Hamilton and Burr? The aftermath of WW II saw many liberated colonial countries where similar troubles recurred.

Rating:
Summary: A tremendously important, albeit somewhat problematic movie.
Review: "Some people are what the times demand, and life without them seems impossible," Michael Collins's associate Joe O'Reilly (Ian Hart) says at the beginning of this movie. "But he's dead. And life *is* possible. He made it possible."

Much more than a comment on Collins's assassination, these lines instantly set the tone for Neil Jordan's controversial biography of "The Big Fellow," one of Irish history's most divisive personalities: the first modern terrorist leader, who invented urban warfare but also went to London to negotiate the 1921 agreement creating the Irish Free State which, realizing its widespread unacceptability, would-be President Eamon de Valera (reportedly) hadn't wanted to bring home personally, and which Collins himself prophetically referred to as his "death warrant."

Michael Collins was born in 1890 in West Cork, a farmer's son, and introduced to the quest for Irish sovereignty by his schoolmaster, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which Collins soon joined as well and in whose ranks he began to rise during his nine years as a London clerk (1905-14). Returning to Ireland, he participated in the unsuccessful 1916 "Easter Rising" and, in the barely six remaining years of his life, created the Irish Republican Army as an organized terrorist group with the single aim of ending British rule, and with a small assassination command directly answering to Collins himself, nicknamed "The Twelve Apostles." After the 1921 treaty had polarized Irish politics to the point of civil war, leaving Collins and de Valera on opposite sides (the most divisive issue being the required oath of allegiance to the British crown; not, as indicated here, Partition), Michael Collins was shot in an ambush near his home in County Cork; ironically in a place known as Beal na mBlath ("Mouth of Flowers").

Several years in the making, Neil Jordan's movie likely was made possible only by the (short-lived) 1995 ceasefire in Northern Ireland. Ambitiously conceived and according to Jordan himself his most important film, it sets out to explore the manifold contradictions within Collins's personality; stopping short, however, of showing him to ever personally commit murder or other acts of violence - which is amply exhibited otherwise - and ultimately espousing the side of those who wish Collins to be remembered more for his contributions to Irish sovereignty than for his acts of terrorism.

Liam Neeson stars in the title role, for which he is a perfect match: physically (both in height and, to some extent, even in facial features) and also because, like Collins, he was born in rural County Cork, and brought an intuitive understanding to the part no outsider could have had. And he gives a tour-de-force performance, one of his best ever, bringing to life a man who could be ruthless and charming, proud and humble, exuberant and desperate, often within mere minutes of one another. Alan Rickman likewise brings his extraordinary talent to the role of Eamon de Valera - although I would have wished the script had allowed him to more fully display the multiple facets of this politician who, far more than merely Michael Collins's rival, was one of 20th century Ireland's most important statesmen, drafter of the 1936 constitution which equates national and territorial unity (a claim only modified after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and still not uniformly abandoned) and establishes the primacy of both the Gaelic language and Catholicism; and founder of Fianna Fail, one of modern Ireland's major political parties. Nevertheless he comes across here, and certainly through no fault of Rickman's, as much more devious, coldblooded and sometimes even small-minded than he probably was. Problematic is also Jordan's choice to have Collins and de Valera communicate, the night before Collins's assassination, through an intermediary who is later seen as the assassin himself: If Jordan, as he insists, indeed didn't intend to suggest that de Valera had anything to do with Collins's death, this plot device - not grounded in fact anyway - is easily misinterpreted.

As important as Collins's interaction with de Valera is that with his best-friend-turned-foe Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn, who likewise gives a tremendous performance, although it's a pity to see him type-cast yet again as the honorable man turned bitter after losing out to an ostensibly more charismatic rival) and their - real-life! - love triangle with Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts, whose badly coached Irish accent detracts from her performance's other merits). Although Jordan again takes liberties with historic facts here - most notably, Boland didn't die in the sewers but was shot in a hotel room - Neeson and Quinn have incredible on-screen chemistry; and the slow change of their relationship, ground to shreds between political intrigue and rivalry for the hand of the same woman in a development both are unable (and ultimately unwilling) to prevent, is one of the film's greatest strengths.

Lastly, Stephen Rea deserves mention for his wonderfully unassuming portrayal of Ned Broy, the intelligence operative who finds Collins so "persuasive" that his assignment as his "shadow" eventually makes him turn the tables on his British superiors and secretly provide Collins with information, while simultaneously preventing his capture (and who, far from being tortured and killed as shown here, would go on to head the Irish gardai).

Commercially "Michael Collins" undoubtedly suffered from the comparison with "Braveheart" which, released only a year prior, while likewise not shying from the graphic display of violence, takes an even grander, unapologetically epic approach to a rebel leader's life. Moreover, some of Collins's lines sound eerily familiar to those who had heard William Wallace declare his desire for "a home, and a family ... but it's all for nothing if we don't have freedom." (Similarly, Collins tells Boland that he wants "peace and quiet ... so much [he'd] die for it," and when challenged "You mean you'd kill for it first," he responds, "No, not first. Last.") But financial bottom line and directorial liberties aside, this is a tremendously important movie, well worth watching by anybody interested in Ireland's recent history.