L'ombra del diavolo

There seems to be a certain template for making "Oirish" movies in Hollywood. Add some or all of the following ingredients to your movie script - Aran Sweaters, a sub-Deliverance rural setting, comely maidens with red hair, a village idiot (teeth optional), impromptu céilís and dancing at the crossroads, priests, drunken violence and the obligatory "Ooh arr, begorrah" accents and you have an Irish film. And if you want some controversy, why not try to tackle the situation in Northern Ireland by adding in some IRA men for good measure. Unfortunately, the Devil's Own has quite a few of the aforementioned clichés in abundance.

It is a great shame that with a cast and director of this calibre, they couldn't have come up with something better. There have been very few, if any, decent films ever made about Northern Ireland and perhaps it's time Hollywood stopped trying to put forward its own take on it, especially when it is as cack-handed as The Devil's Own. Not only is the whole movie grossly offensive to Irish people, and anyone else with a brain, but it is a dangerous message to be sending out to gullible Irish Americans. It's time film-makers stopped buying into the idea that the IRA are noble warriors when in fact they and others of their ilk are terrorists, pure and simple.

Avoid this like the plague. Brad Pitt's accent is the least of the problems in this film. He just isn't convincing as the cold-blooded killer he is supposed to be - he's far too nice. Harrison Ford is his usual reliable self but too much of the movie is taken up with a largely irrelevant sub-plot featuring himself and Ruben Blades as his police partner. At times, The Devil's Own seems like an IRA film mixed up with NYPD Blue.

What is it with American-Irish? Some of their richest and most respectable members have poured millions of Dollars into the IRA, harboured some of their members, idealised the notion of a "fight for freedom". Believe me, as a Scot, with William Wallace et al I've always had a certain affinity for heroes. But the IRA are no heroes. They've become Northern Ireland's drug-dealers, extortioners, gangsters. The people of Ireland as whole have had enough of them and their way of terrorising innocent people. May it be the IRA or the UDP, the notion of a Catholic V Protestant jihad has long ago turned into a simple cycle of self-perpetuating violence. These men and women are no longer anything resembling the oh-so glorious Michael Collins, they are terrorists who don't know when to quit and never knew anything but how to fight. These men aren't the Brad Pitts of the world, nor is the British Army an oppressor anymore (considering that over 90% of the locals support the Army, simply because it provides protection). Yet in 1997 we still got the great toss of this movie, showing us how brave Irishmen fight against an onslaught of British stormtroopers and evil S(I)S men. Somehow it seems that America is hell-bent on keeping up the idea of the stiff upper-lip English villain. May it be The Devil's Own, Braveheart, U-571 or most recently The Patriot, Hollywood seems bent on demonising the US' closest ally, both politically and culturally. I may not be a great fan of the English, but even I know what harm stereotypes can do. Perhaps the writer should have gone out to the streets of Belfast and asked ordinary people what they think of the IRA. Perhaps the writer should have also approached a soldier and asked him what it's like to occupy Northern Ireland. Somehow, I have severe doubts that a movie about the post-WW2 SS-"Werwölfe" guerillas would be quite so romanticised.

And this movie has a Riverdance sequence. Oh please....

As a child in Ireland, Frankie McGuire (Brad Pitt) sees his dad gunned down for his involvement with the Irish Republican Army (IRA). As an adult, McGuire has followed in his dad's footsteps. When the IRA decides it needs more firepower, they hatch a plan that involves McGuire going to the United States to pick up a shipment of Stinger missiles. Through American IRA contacts, McGuire adopts a false identity and housing is arranged with a non-involved Irish family headed by New York City cop Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford).

There is an impression that The Devil's Own is an action film. The Internet Movie Database has it listed as "Action/Drama/Thriller". Although there are some action elements in the film, this is really a tragic drama, almost in a classical sense, and it's best to approach the film with only that genre in mind. The plot is fairly complex and the film tends to move slowly--much more slowly than a typical actioner or thriller.

The heart of the story is McGuire's relationship with O'Meara and his family. All of the other material--the IRA stuff, the mob and terrorist stuff, the New York City cop stuff, and so on, are not the focus. Those elements are present to help establish characterization, to build the relationship and understanding between McGuire and O'Meara, and to provide a justification for the developments in the film, and particularly the conclusion, which all have poignant things to say about the decisions that we make and why we make them.

The film largely succeeds if seen from this dramatic perspective. It's not quite a 10, however, as it always seems slightly distanced from the viewer. It's an 8 out of 10 for me.

(This comment was originally posted on January 16, 2005 and ended with the above. The following was added much later after reading through some other user comments:) We should not forget that even though it takes elements from the real world to construct its story, The Devil's Own is NOT intended to be journalistic or a documentary. There is no claim that it is giving an accurate portrayal of political situations, and it's not intended to campaign for one side or another in a real-world political situation. This is fiction, folks, and should be judged _as fiction_. For that, you should forget about what you know of the real world, and assess the story, images and sounds you experience from your television. Does the story work as a self-contained entity? Are the performances good? Is it visually attractive/rewarding? Those are the kinds of things we should be judging.

For me, The Devil's Own succeeded as a drama about relationships, with its poignancy arrived at primarily by making two people from very different worlds, with very different outlooks, learn to see things from different perspectives.

That's great if you're very knowledgeable about Northern Ireland in the real world and if you have strong opinions about terrorism. However, your knowledge and opinions on that stuff have nothing to do with this film.

Brad pitt, harrison ford. Frankie lives in ireland, in the early 1990s, where the irish republican army is alive and well. When he comes to the u.s., now he's rory, and staying with o'meara, a cop. Rory is here on a mission to get weapons to be used back home. When the deal goes bad, it brings violence to o'meara's door. And he's a cop, so he's got to do something! Small role for treat williams. It's mostly really good. It gets a bit awkward towards the end, but can't say too much. It feels like some scenes were cut out. The trivia section talks about reshoots and multiple script issues, but for the most part, it's not bad! The last twenty minutes were a bit choppy but overall, good story. Directed by alan pakula. Was nominated for some huge films over the years. Story by kevin jarre. At one point during the film, pedestrians walk past rory, humming the theme to rocky; jarre worked on several "rambo" projects with stallone. Died young at 56.

Frankie McGuire (Brad Pitt) is one of the IRA's deadliest assassins. But when he is sent to the United States to buy weapons, specifically Stinger missiles, Frankie stays with the family of Tom O'Meara (Harrison Ford), a New York police officer who is happily married to Sheila (Margaret Colin) with children , but all of them know nothing about Frankie's true identity. A surprising friendship emerges, but Tom's growing suspicions force Frankie to choose between the promise of peace or a life of murder. A man trapped by destiny and another bound by duty! They are about to discover why they are willing to fight and die. They come from different worlds. They fight for different causes. Now, two men from opposite sides of the law are about to go to war !.

An interesting thriller on the typical theme of hidden identity, as a police officer discovers the true identity of his guest in the house, a member of the I. R. A. Hidden terrorist. This is more of a detailed character study, trying to explore the reasons why the protagonists act the way they do, rather than the typical action movie. This is a good suspense drama devised by screenwriter Kevin Jarre (Glory) and well directed by Alan J. Pakula in which an interpretive duel is established between two of the biggest screen stars belonging to two different generations: Harrison Ford (Patriotic Games, Star Wars, Sabrina) and Brad Pitt (Seven, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Legends of the fall), the latter doing his usual job as an honest patrol cop who gets caught up in bad situations. Harrison Ford was paid $20 million to star in the film and Brad Pitt earned $12 million; the difference in salaries came because the status of first big star was higher for Ford who had recently played the successful Indiana Jones sequels, while Brad Pitt did not yet have the status that he would subsequently achieve. They are well accompanied by a good supporting cast with some familiar faces, such as: Margaret Colin, Rubén Blades, Treat Williams, George Hearn, Mitchell Ryan, David O'Hara and Natascha McElhone.

This features an evocative musical score by prestigious composer James Horner who strives to give the film a tone full of Irish sounds. Adding colorful and appropriate photography by the classic cameraman Gordon Willis who photographed The Godfather and other very important films. This gripping story was professionally directed by Alan J. Pakula, although it has some cracks and is a bit slow. Alan J. Pakula was chosen to direct because he was the only person both Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt agreed should do it, but it turned out to be the last film Pakula finished before his death caused by a car accident. This compelling American film director, writer and producer was nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture for "To Kill a Mockingbird" (1962), Best Director for "All the President's Men" (1976) and Best Adapted Screenplay for ¨Sophie's Choice¨ (1982). His producing business partner in the 1950s and 1960s was Robert Mulligan. Pakula was always very supportive of his cast and had a reputation as an "actor's director." He achieved several hits such as ¨The Devil's Shadow¨, ¨Pelican Report¨, ¨Presumed Innocent¨, ¨Sophie's Choice¨, ¨Klute¨ and some failures such as ¨Starting Over¨, ¨See You in the Morning¨ and ¨ The last witness¨ or ¨The Parallax View¨. Rating: 7/10. It is worth seeing and being better than average thanks to the magnificent performances of Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt.