The Treaty

Does an excellent job of explaining the impossible task Irish negotiators had in London, in 1921, in their negotiations with the British Government.

The Irish, after hundreds of years of trying to gain Independence, had finally got the British to the negotiation table. After a bloody war of Independence, a Truce was called with the British. Could the Irish get what they fought for; a Republic, independent of the British Empire ?

For the British, the danger was if they gave one colony Independence, it might encourage other colonies to seek Independence also, and risked breaking up the British Empire. Thus, removal of an oath of loyalty to the British King was a non-negotiable condition.

To complicate matters,the majority of citizens in the North East of the island, (in the Province of Ulster), did not want Independence.

As if the situation was not complicated enough, Ireland's political leader (Eamon De Valera), refrained from directly taking part in the negotiations (and instead sent a reluctant soldier/politician, Michael Collins instead).

This muddied the waters as to who was the decision makers on the Irish side were (the negation team in London, or De Valera back in Dublin) ?

When the British team (led by Prime Minister Loyd George), finally made their "sign the Treaty tonight, or the British Government will declare outright war" ultimatum, late one night, the Irish team in London were in an impossible situation. This movie captures the events, in a fair and balanced way (from both the Irish and British sides).

The excellent movie is surprisingly hard to get (not even on for sale, or rent on Amazon). Fortunately, it is available for free on YouTube. The picture quality is a bit fuzzy, but still wort watching.

Note: For anyone interested in the War of Independence, which preceded the Treaty, check out the movie: The Wind that shakes the Barley.

For those who are interested in modern Irish history - this is for you. It gives the details of the Treaty which ended the War of Independence between Ireland and Britain, which, dry though it sounds, is interesting. It has been well scripted, and superbly acted. It is ironic to consider that here, Brendan Gleeson plays Michael Collins, and in 'Michael Collins'(1996) only the sidekick. Liam Neeson doesn't do the character justice, Brendan Gleeson does. He looks a lot like Michael Collins, and from eyewitness accounts, behaves a lot like him as well. Another interesting point about this film is that it is almost all factually accurate (my sole quibble would be the interplay between Michael Collins and Lloyd-George's wife (I hope that's correct, its a while since I have seen it, sorry if it's wrong)) If you are going to rely on a film for historical accuracy, then please use this as opposed 'Michael Collins'

Brendan Gleeson is a fine actor and the subject is a highly fascinating one, if difficult to bring to screen. It was also the subject of 'Michael Collins' from five years later (being based on the same subject it is inevitable to compare), and while that film was bigger in budget and had actors that were better known, also a film with many great merits, but it is one of those films to be watched on its own terms as a film rather than a true and un-biased piece of history.

Of which 'The Treaty' does a much better job at being. It is not as big in budget or as visually stunning as 'Michael Collins', but it is more truthful and appreciatively less speculative, explores the subject in much more depth with more sides being explored, has more complexity in characterisation and is nowhere near as black and white. It also doesn't have Julia Roberts's unspeakably awful performance.

Would also have liked a little more focus on the division, but there is really very little wrong with 'The Treaty'.

Its main merits are the cast and script. Brendan Gleeson gives a towering performance as Collins, and the support from particularly Ian Bannon and Tony Doyle is also splendid. The script is also very layered and thought-provoking, with the refusal to not take sides and showing that it was a complex situation shining through. On a factual level, it is very accurate and is not reliant at all on speculation or sacrificing the truth for trying to appeal to modern audiences (like with casting Roberts as a crass box office draw decision).

'The Treaty's' storytelling is nowhere near close to being as dry as it may sound on paper. It absorbs from start to finish and captures everything that was so interesting and complex about the Treaty itself in the first place with different view-points shown effectively. All the characters are well-drawn and non-biased, no clichés or heroes and villains here (not saying that 'Michael Collins' was that exactly, but still stand by finding some of it black-and-white).

Production values are not lavish as such and it is not as beautifully photographed as 'Michael Collins', but they are not cheap either and are perhaps more evocative.

Overall, very good and never less than compelling. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Brendan Gleason seems to come closer to the image of Michael Collins I got from reading Tim Pat Coogan's biography of the Irish leader then Liam Neeson's turn in Niel Jordan's biopic.While this film,an RTE/BBC co-production didn't have anywhere near the budget of Jordan's film it's producers did a first rate job none the less.The acting is quite good,and the resemblance of Ian Bannen to David Lloyd-George is remarkable!The discussion he has with DeValera about the translation of the Irish word "phoblacht" is interesting,as Lloyd-George was a Welshman,a Celtic group who've managed to keep THEIR Gaelic tongue alive and kicking.All in all while this film hasn't the big screen glamor of "Michael Collins",it is less about the legend of the "Big Fellow", and much closer to the real man.Anyone interested in how modern Ireland came to be should see this film.

This is by far a better dramatization of Michael Collins than the Neil Jordan film. Brendan Gleeson is wonderful as Collins and even looks much like him. I found it ironic that he was still not a big enough "name" for Jordan to cast him as Collins, yet he was cast as Collins' companion on his last fatal journey home.

Jordan's Michael Collins passed over Collins' role in the negotiations that created the Itish Free State, although it did reference it. Jordan picked the story up again with Collins' return from England and the rejection of the treaty by the die-hard Republicans as the prelude to the Civil War that cost Collins his life. The Treaty goes a long way to explaining how the divisive situation came about.

I taped The Treaty from TV and have viewed it over and over. I would really love to see it issued as a DVD.