The Journey

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.

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

Greetings again from the darkness. Only the rarest of fiction can match the depth and intensity of historically crucial watershed moments. A list of such moments would certainly include the 2006 St. Andrews Agreement that ended 40 years of violent civil war between the Unionist and Republican factions of Northern Ireland. Director Nick Hamm and writer Colin Bateman team up to bring us a speculative dramatization of the conversation that 'might' have led to the treaty.

Timothy Spall plays Reverend Ian Paisley, leader of the Unionists and an anti-Catholic evangelical minister. Colm Meaney plays Martin McGuinness, the rebellious former IRA leader ("allegedly", he clarifies) who leads the Irish Republicans (Sinn Fein). These two extremists have been at war for most of their lives, yet had never met until circumstances brought them together for negotiations.

One's take on the film will likely be determined by the level of need for historical accuracy and any personal connection to long-lasting war in Northern Ireland. Either of these traits will likely have you scoffing at the backseat verbal sparring and the plot contrivances that allow the two mortal enemies to slowly break down the ideological barriers. On the other hand, it can be viewed as a mis-matched buddy movie featuring a game of witty one-upmanship with political and historical relevance.

Either way, the dueling actors are a pleasure to watch. Mr. Spall surely has the more theatrical role, and he revels in the buttoned-up judgmental nature of Paisley – a man loyal enough to be attending his 50th wedding anniversary party, and sufficiently devoted to his beliefs that his last visit to a movie theatre was in 1973 as he led the protests against The Exorcist. In contrast, Mr. Meaney plays McGuinness as both determined to find common ground and worn down by the years of fighting and lack of progress.

Toby Stephens plays Prime Minister Tony Blair, while Freddie Highmore is the young driver charged with surreptitiously igniting conversation between the two rivals. He is fed instructions through his ear-piece by an MI5 director played by John Hurt, in one of his final film appearances. Unfortunately, this bit of "narration" came across as condescending to this viewer who surely could have done without such elementary guidance. Still, the sight of Mr. Hurt on film is always welcome.

The infusion of humor is nearly non-stop. There's a comical exchange about Samuel L. Jackson, a joke about the Titanic, and a Paisley diatribe at a gas station over a declined credit card that would easily fit in most any Hollywood buddy flick. However, these elements undermine one of the early on screen interviews we see when a citizen states bombs going off as you walk down the street is "part of life". "You can almost taste the hatred" is a great line, but unfortunately doesn't match the script of what we witness on screen. The two men re-hash some key events such as 1972's Bloody Sunday, and it's these moments that remind us just how important this new agreement was to the country. It's understandable (and relevant today) how 40 years of hate can become a way of life and difficult to end, and it also shows us just how far actual communication can go in finding common ground between folks … even The Chuckles Brothers.

Very nicely shot, written, directed and acted, this is almost a one-of-a-kind treatment of an imagined journey - involving two of modern English/Irish histories most controversial political & personal opposites. It's an almost Shakespearian interaction between two powerful men of contemporary social influence - heading on a crash course that will either ignite or defuse a shockingly long running bloody civil war. Is it treated too lightly? (as some might suggest) or is it safe to assume that both these aging men knew it was now or never - the time had come! Stop the bloodshed, stop the negative destruction of their country, begin to heal and live again, united. Great Irish locations (standing in for Scotland) and music score add much to this entertaining tour de force-musing on what might have happened.

I may also go so far to say that prolific british composer, Steve Warbeck's rather potent & melodious score, was actually worthy of a larger project than this (as was his 2001 'Captain Corelli's Mandolin') Some composers don't seem to get the right commissions to grace their above average work. At least he's added handsomely to this thoroughly entertaining venture.

"These two are the Troubles."

The "two" are Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall), the leader of the Northern Ireland Democratic Unionist Party, and Martin McGuiness (Colm Meaney), Sinn Fein politician and IRA operative, traveling together in a fictional hour of two-handed politics, whose interaction had the outcome of peace. The Journey, meticulously directed by Nick Hamm, is superb filmmaking that illuminates history and showcases transcendent acting.

Facing off each other with Paisley's accurate condemnation of IRA violence and McGuiness's hatred of Paisley's rigid evangelical Protestantism, the two in the van on the way to the Glasgow airport dance around each other as they figure out how to survive their own arrogance and win a peace. But as we know, an accord was made back then that ended 40 years of bloodshed and a unified Northern Ireland under the combined leadership of both men.

Although actors like Toby Stephens as Tony Blair and John Hurt as Harry Patterson could command any screen at any time, Spall and Meaney are so believable as to make you forget all other performances. Their job to let you see the growing friendship by small increments is marvelous to behold.

Applause, too, must be given for a production design that commands maximum intimacy and suspenseful plot distribution: The interior of the van becomes an intimate drawing room with no diplomats or functionaries to distract from the plan at hand; the brief time to get to the airport has the properties of a digital readout in a heist movie—everyone is aware that the handshake may not happen if the van gets to the plane on time or too late.

The Journey is required for those who love first-rate acting and those who want to feel history in the making. For anyone else, it is the antidote to the summer blockbuster.