Veronica Guerin - Il prezzo del coraggio

What a woman she was! Let's start off with good points. I think this movie had a great cast. I think everyone was perfect. The problem probably comes with the filmmakers being American. I'm an American so I think I'm qualified to say this. Sometimes you need to be from the same culture to understand subtle and cultural things that are not evident to the naked eye so to speak. The movie somehow doesn't delve deep enough for us to understand why Guerin takes these incredible risks. Perhaps we should have learned more about her background to understand this unflinching courage she had. It may have also been beneficial to make the underworld figures she encounters more layered. Either way, it is a good introductory film to this incredible woman. Perhaps a homespun filmmaker can make another movie about her. I reiterate that I thought the casting was terrific! Cate Blanchett is one in a million. I felt her performance was oscar caliber.

Back in the 1990s, I recall reading news articles about a feisty journalist who was writing stories about the drug problems in Dublin. Occasionally, I'd see another article, and was impressed by the strength and character of the writer. Then, in 1996, I read a long magazine story about Veronica Guerin and how she died.

So, this is a movie I really wanted to see...

Joel Schumacher has produced/directed many good movies, and this one must come near the top for me.

There is no preaching, no histrionics, no proselytizing, no hype – just a relatively short account of how this woman decided to do something about the kids dying in the streets, and about the difficulties she faced in trying to get authorities to stem, or stop, the flow of drugs into the city. Just an ordinary woman who did the extraordinary...

The cinematography of the dirty streets and kids is gritty, as you would expect, contrasting very well with the opulence enjoyed by the major drug pushers of the upper establishment in the Dublin area.

The violence – and there's plenty of it – is short, sharp, vicious and all too realistic: when one drug gang eliminates another, when an informer is tortured, when Veronica is subjected to the most savage personal beating I've seen on film, and when she is finally assassinated.

Couple all of that with a performance by Blanchett worthy of an Oscar, closely followed by Gerard McSorley as John Gilligan, whose evil must be seen to fully appreciate the performance of this fine actor, and rounded off with Ciaran Hinds as John Traynor, who simply excels in his performance as the slime-ball to end all slime-balls – and you have a film that keeps you riveted to your seat, wondering how is it that one person can be so brave in the face of such depravity.

It's a very depressing film because you know what is coming, you know that a horrible death comes as the end. But, it is also an uplifting story that proves, beyond measure, that good people can prevail against the bad elements that exist in all societies, even though some do pay the ultimate price.

If there is one movie you see this year, see this one.

I've been revaluing Joel Schumacher as a director for some years. I was used to think he was just a typical Hollywood movie maker. But I understood this man does commercial features whenever he needs money ("Batman forever", "Batman & Robin", "The client", "A time to kill"), as he gets it he manages to do good and more personal films.

In fact his mainstream movies are quite boring and mannered. Fortunately Schumacher is much better with more alternative or low-budget films ("Falling down", "Tigerland", "Phone booth"). "Veronica Guerin" belongs to this category.

I'm also happy, in this case, that a blockbuster producer like Jerry Bruckheimer manages not to spoil the movie with artificial tricks.

Veronica Guerin seems to me a symbol of Irish tragicalness. I mean, the tragicalness you can find in works of James Joyce and Oscar Wilde, in stories and legends of Ireland as well. Sadly, her story is true.

The film has the right speed in presenting all the facts, it is simple and well acted -Cate Blanchett's performance is outstanding.

Maybe Joel Schumacher, in the final part, looses a little the sense of rhythm because he wants us to be moved and touched (and we are, indeed. Because it's a shame that a woman and a brave journalist as well had to pay that price). But it's a true story, as I said. The film is valid because it denounces the "conspiracy of silence" and inaction from authorities.

Veronica Guerin is the kind of journalist I could never, ever be, if I choose to go into that field in the future. She was determined, ballsy, hard-nosed, a risk-taker, and instilled with a bravado that bordered on irrationality. This movie is based on the true story of how Guerin, an Irish reporter, galvanized her country into implementing stricter drug laws and cracking down on drug-related crimes and drug abuse. Veronica Guerin paints her as a modern day Joan of Arc - misunderstood by peers and politicians while she was alive, but made a martyr and heroine after her death. It spans a period of two years, from Guerin's decision to take down Dublin's drug overlord, to her eventual assassination. (I'm not revealing any secrets - she's shot at the beginning before the movie flashes back). Guerin's tenacious reporting-style - poking, prodding, nudging friends and foes alike - was effective, albeit often treacherous - there had been previous attempts on her life before the final, fatal one. It is this that critics pick on in their reviews: Guerin's almost insane tendency to provoke known criminals and gangsters to the point of immediate danger to herself and her family. While it would be somewhat implausible if this were a fictitious story, the story of Veronica Guerin is a true one. Having not read her biography, I have no idea how much the filmmakers have embellished on it, but I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. With the picture they painted of Guerin, as well as Cate Blanchett's wonderful portrayal of her, I believe that Guerin, in her passion-fuelled moral crusade, would have been that compulsive, and ultimately, that heroic.

As much as I loved the story of Veronica Guerin, crusading journalist, I have some bones to pick with the technical aspects of the movie. One is with the director's tendency to suddenly go into "Blair Witch Cam," or hand-held cam, for those of you who haven't been nauseated by that movie. It's intended to give the movie a documentary feel, but the sudden switches to from fixed to hand-held cams just leave me dizzy. Another problem I had, though a smaller one, was with the schmaltzy-ing of certain scenes, especially the last one, where Celtic songs are played in the background. While I understand the reverrence intended and the relevance of playing Celtic music, I couldn't stop images of the Titanic and Sarah McLachlan (I don't know either) from appearing in my head. A suitably solemn, well-composed, non-Celtic piece would've been much more preferable. But that's just me. 9/10

Cate Blanchett has done it again - played someone you can't take your eyes off of, and not because she's a classic beauty but she's just a good actress and plays such intense roles. Here, she's the single-minded outraged Irish reporter out to expose the drug trafficking in Ireland in the mid 1990s. Yes, it's based on a real person, a very real Veronica Guerin, who took her life in her hands with her desire to have this problem taken care off so the kids in her country wouldn't have such easy access to harmful drugs.

According to the film story, the drug problem was ignored or the police were just ineffective in dealing with it, so Guerin goes after the mob as an investigative reporter. Her husband pleads with her to stop, knowing she could easily be killed. The gangsters were tough and realistically portrayed on film. There is no talk-now-shoot-later nonsense. You mess with them, you will pay. That's the message they give Guerin and you'll have to see the film to find out what happened.

Yup, this is an attention-getter from the start and especially with Blanchett in the lead. A good story and highly recommended.