DFG1916

A decent comedy following the misadventures of three young Belfast men who happen into the world of hare coursing.

Stylistically, this has the feel of a lot of British and Irish films of the past decade. It's aimed at the same market that made Trainspotting, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and Snatch such big hits. On a number of occasions I thought this was overdone; it seemed to be trying too hard to be Belfast's answer to those films. This would be forgivable from a new director but it's less understandable from Paddy Breathnach.

The acting is excellent. Allen Leech does a good northern accent, although it's not quite West Belfast. The storyline is entirely unbelievable, but I wasn't expecting realism!

6 out of 10 because it's funny in spots, but not THAT funny. I also think that to really appreciate it you have to have some interest in gambling in general, and gambling on dogs in particular. If, like me, you have neither, you'll probably find it a bit difficult to get into.

There's been a trend in recent years for documentaries to tell their stories simply through the testimony of a bunch of talking heads. This film follows that trend and, like most such documentaries, it becomes a bit dull and repetitive after a while. The attempts at creativity toward the end, such as the flipping back and forth between the prisoner's wife and the widow of the ETA victim, or the camera zooming over the interviewees, seem clumsy and self-conscious when they do occur. A bit more variety throughout the film wouldn't have gone amiss.

The technique of introducing interviewees in groups of three or four and then having them speak is confusing. By the time you hear what the person has to say, you've forgotten who they are and what perspective they're coming from.

It's interesting that people who oppose Basque independence seem to think the film is biased in favour of it. I'm in favour of it and I didn't see that bias at all. It certainly is not apologetic of violence. At most it seems to suggest that the Spanish Government is wrong to engage in its own violence, and wrong to not talk even to moderate nationalists. One hardly has to be an ETA supporter to agree with that.

For all the flaws mentioned above, the subject matter was covered in a thorough, coherent and generally balanced way. I wouldn't recommend it as an introduction, but it's a worthwhile exercise for those who already have some knowledge of the conflict.

(Note: this review refers to the 2 hour version)

It's quite simply a fact that the Western media generally portrayed the Balkan wars from a one-sided perspective: Evil Serbs vs. Innocent Croats/Muslims/Albanians. This documentary demonstrates that there was a significant amount of evil on the other sides. Unfortunately, it does so while completely glossing over the crimes that Serbs DID commit. This inevitably weakens its credibility, as some will simply dismiss it as pro-Serb propaganda...which to some extent it is.

Nonetheless, there is a significant amount of testimony from journalists who covered the wars, and from US and British government/army sources, to back up the filmmakers' obvious biases. This testimony is quite compelling and I think that anyone who approaches this film with an open mind will come away realising that the issues were a lot more complicated than the media led us to believe.

My recommendation: Watch it, think about what it left out, and then read a few books on the subject.