The Journey

Wonderful cast in a film that could have used a better script. Timothy Spall's accent slippage irritated at times, though I realize how difficult the Northern Ireland accent is to imitate.

There were many contrivances, a walk in the forest, in a church, in a graveyard to force the final outcome of peace. And I was astonished that the retaliative murders by the RUC got short shrift versus the bombings and killings of the IRA. 6/10

The Journey (2016/III) was directed by Nick Hamm. It's based on the historical fact that in 2006 the Northern Ireland peace talks established a compromise solution that did, indeed, bring peace to Northern Ireland. This peace pact ended 40 years of terror and violence in that country. Again, historically, the Irish Catholic leader Martin McGuiness and the Irish Protestant Leader Ian Paisley came to an agreement that allowed peace to be established. This film represents an attempt to comprehend how this agreement came about.

In a situation like this, a movie will rise or fall depending on the acting abilities of the two leads. No problem here, because director Hamm had two brilliant actors to work with: Colm Meaney as Martin McGuinness and Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley. I think it's worth seeing the movie just to watch them act.

For me, this was an extraordinary movie. I don't know enough about the history of Northern Ireland to know how accurate or realistic the dialog was. I know enough about movies to know that two brilliant leads can produce a magical moment if they know how to act, and how to interact. That's what happened in The Journey.

We saw this movie in Rochester's excellent Little Theatre. It will work well on the small screen. The Journey had a terrible IMDb rating of 6.2. That's the weighted average, but the median is 7.0. Most raters liked the film, and some loved it. However, a significant minority hated the movie, and gave it a rating of 1. (One of the people who rated it 1 has also written a review, and I suggest you check it out.)

I noticed the same rating situation with the film Selma, although the average rating was much higher. I think that probably many films about controversial subjects will have people who hate those movies. In those cases, I check the median rating, which I believe gives a more accurate reflection of what most people thought about the movie.

In my opinion, this is a definitely a film worth seeing, and I recommend it.

Superb cast, and an inspired way to examine the turbulent times and a "what if" situation between two of the world's leading historical figures.

I've always loved movies like this where there are minimal characters in a minimal setting. Most often it's a play that has been transposed to film... I don't know if this ever was a play, but it would transfer well to the stage.

I was in school (west coast of North America) during the 70s so Ireland was prominent in the news, and we covered it in current affairs, but like most school-taught history and history-in-the-making , it wasn't "alive" to kids on the other side of the planet. It's amazing I ever did fall in love with history! In an unrelated moment a few days ago, I discovered on Ancestry that I had some ancient Irish ancestors which I never knew about before. The last couple of days I've been online and on podcasts learning some about the history of Ireland. I've probably learned/*registered* more in the last few days than I ever knew prior. It's fortuitous that I stumbled across this movie on Netflix.

While flipping through Netflix I had gone past a bunch of things I had already seen...and completely forgotten, and I was bemoaning the quality of things available. However, *this* movie I will never forget, and I'm so glad I decided to watch it! I just finished it and I will take some quiet time to think on it some more, as well as both the folly and miracles of flawed humankind.

A beautiful movie, brilliantly constructed. And yes, I was choked up at the end.

I am not even halfway through and want to say this is as good a way to learn more about History than some other ways. I think they put cotton balls in Spall's mouth and a set of bad teeth! He sure hit people over the head with Jesus. Jesus wouldn't even like him!! You know carpenters!

Great acting performance from the two leads, and some enjoyable moments.

For me though the plot is contrived and not really believable enough to fully enjoy. Strangely the intellegence team (including a panicky Tony Blair) keep interrupting the action with lines like "What are they doing? Are they going to do it?" I don't know what purpose this all serves. The film has already nicely explained what is at stake at the beginning. The real story is Paisley and McGuiness, not the worries of the driver's handlers. It's quite jarring to be taken out of the main story back to this side show. The character of driver is not interesting. Perhaps someone with a personal story and a stake in the events. It's a bit odd that such a junior member of staff would be driving them, and also not know how to change a tyre. Some enjoyable scenes but I didnt find the plot credible.