A Ressurreição

Making a film about any conflict is ambitious but making one during a conflict is even more so. This film tactfully tackles the story of the Shankill Butchers a gang that mindlessly slaughtered innocent civilians and got away with it because it was during the Troubles. Strong performances from O'Rawe and Fricker in creating authentic Belfast dialogue. Townsend is sensational as as Victor and Holmes music is as good as its gets - long love SugarSweet...! If this production had the same budget as Goodfellows I shudder to think how good it could have been. Open your mind and imagine what it was like to live in a western street in 1970 with the army running down it and bombs going off.

I guess this was as far as the filmmakers could go without actually calling Kelly Murphy. So instead of the audience being shown a film that could be called a true story, the events portrayed, however close to real life, take on an air of the surreal. The fact that there was a gang who did this sort of thing and a whole lot worse in the name of sectarian hatred is not made clear. Maybe they thought worldwide audiences would struggle with this concept, and introduced some kind of psychopathic blood lust to make the whole thing more believable. As it is, watching this film, and having read Martin Dillon's excellent book, I was left feeling frustrated, that an opportunity to portray the actual events was badly missed, being dumped into a crypto-fascist mishmash of conflicting motives. Living in N. Ireland, we know that there were and are people who could do this sort of thing and justify it on religious grounds..the film just isn't brave enough to say this, and so we are left with this psycho loner character that is frankly laughable. the gang weren't held in some kind of thrall by this psycho, acting against their will, they actually killed while Murphy was in prison, to make him look innocent. Townsend does what he was asked to do, it's just a pity he wasn't asked to do the right thing.

What a cruel, confused film . This could have been the definitive film dealing with the tribal hatred during the Irish troubles , but instead we get an incoherant , rather plotless tale of motiveless murders

I`ve never read the novel RESURRECTION MAN but it`s obvious the screenplay needs to be restructured since it tells us nothing of the reasons why Irishmen kill their fellow Irishmen. What made Victor Kelly this way ? Why is he regarded as a hero ? , and most importantly of all: Why are his gang called "The Resurrection Men " ? These questions are never fully explained

Worst of all the film seems to concentrate more on a wife beating Belfast journalist rather than Kelly . If the film had to revolve round him couldn`t he have been an English or American journalist ignorant of the complex situation of 70`s Belfast ? At least then they`d be some expositional context in the film. And on top of this major flaw most of the characters are superflious , they don`t contribute to the plot.

I might be missing the point that many terrorists in Ireland (Especially Loyalists ) aren`t intrested in politics or religion but are more intrested in venting blood lust , and to it`s credit the film does in gory detail show the suffering of the victims of violence , but after viewing RESURRECTION MAN the viewer will probably be left feeling that the film ( Like political violence ) is a waste of time.

For a detailed and informative study of Lenny Murphy ( Who Victor Kelly is based upon ) try finding Martin Dillon`s book THE SHANKHILL BUTCHERS:A CASE STUDY OF MASS MURDER

I found this film to be both disgusting and insulting on every level. 'The Troubles', generally, do not make good subject matter for a movie (just look at 'The Devil's Own') but this is far worse than just a perversion of the truth. The killings in the film are glamorized as 'Pulp Fiction'-type sadism and the sectarian element is embarrassingly brushed aside. The film contains little element of 'gritty realism' (the locations look nothing like Belfast -it was shot in England), the performances and the script are dreadful, and the film never seems to know where it is going, or even why this tale is worth telling! In terms of politics,it is much to close to the bone but even without the Irish element it is a terrible film which thinks far to highly of itself. Exactly what are we supposed to feel for the lead character (he is given no redeeming qualities) and what are we supposed to take away from this film? Stuart Townsend's performance is one of the most insulting I've seen. He plays with the audience knowingly, as if he feels he has our respect and awe.My writing may seem garbled but truthfully I do consider myself a just film critic : that said, I consider this to be one of the worst films I've ever seen. Garbage.

Stylishly shot, but predictable, woefully under-developed script with patchy performances other than the compelling lead male actor. Seems to believe it's about violence, but incoherent story and directorial approach to the ultra violence the film purports to explore, results in triple X rated pop video. Not just bad, but stupid on quite a deep level.