Il viaggio - 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

It's 2006. Tony Blair and Bertie Ahern have gathered both sides of the Northern Ireland conflict to negotiate the eventual Good Friday Agreement. Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall) is the rigid firebrand loyalist preacher. Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney) is the public face of the IRA. They represent the far sides of the conflict and have never spoken with each other. Ian needs to return home for his 50th wedding anniversary. Martin insists on joining him as protocol and more importantly, as the last chance to talk to him man-to-man with the only hope to get a yes to the agreement. Jack (Freddie Highmore) is their talkative driver. In reality, he's a British agent operating under Harry Patterson (John Hurt).

This story imagines that journey. That's the opening text and it's a mistake. Essentially, it's saying that it's fictional which is fine but it doesn't need to be proclaimed on screen. It takes some of the tension right out of the movie and the ending is already known. As for the story, it has some good turns but I almost wish for a simple inside-the-car three hander. It's the actors and it would be interesting to do My Dinner with Andre in the back seat. Spall and Meaney are great. Even Highmore is fine in doing a bumbling driver. It's a compelling what-if story for the politically-minded.

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.

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.