A Guerra das Perucas

Everyone I've told about this movie loves it. It says a lot about friendship, love (parental, fraternal, egocentric, altruistic) and about a country bifurcated by war and misunderstanding. As usual, with movies made in Ireland and Britain, the humor is broad and subtle at the same time and even the very minor characters are fully drawn. If ever there was a time for this film it's now. With surreal humor (although what is surreal these days?) it explores the meaning of hate, love, war and forgiveness. It is a movie about common lives that are circumscribed by conflict and about the way people cope with impossible and untenable situations: with the way, in short, that they survive. And it's funny! Billy Connelly as "Scalper" is, as usual, over the top in the best sense.

I have to disagree with some of the other comments on this film. In my opinion it is one of the cleverest satires that I have seen but you have to concentrate on it and not expect it to be obviously realistic. It is very well written, acted and directed with an extremely clever ending. Reminiscent of the ability of Noel Coward or Oscar Wilde to depict human frailty in a comical light (but missing the blistering dialogue of the latter). The word "wry" comes to mind and its only faults are some slowness in building up to the ending and, while most of the characters are deliberately portrayed as rather childish and naive, some are a little overdone. In particular, Colm's definition of when an action is "a gesture" is absolutely superb satire. This film is wit, not comedy in the rather obvious sense which so often prevails these days. I would give it a "much better than average" rating for a discerning viewer who wants something better than what is mostly on offer.

An Everlasting Piece is a funny, witty and at times dark movie based on the escapades of a Protestant and Catholic barber who team up to take over the toupee market of Northern Ireland. If you look for deeper meaning in this movie you will find important moral lessons and some insight into the nature of conflict in general. There are dozens of quotable lines present, Billy Connolly has some real gems.

Having never been to Northern Ireland, I believe this movie has given me some limited insight into 1980's Belfast. Most of the main characters are Catholic-Irish, and the film does seem slightly sympathetic to that side. If you are looking for more information on the atmosphere and troubles in N. Ireland I recommend reading Bad Blood, by Colm Toibin.

The plot is fine 6/10 The humour is great 9/10 The dramatic element is good 7/10 Overall I'd give 7.5/10

Colin gets a new job as a barber working as the "new Catholic" barber in a Belfast mental institution. His colleague is George – a protestant with a love of poetry who is also a barber. A chance meeting with a mad wig salesman known as the scalper sees them getting their hands on his leads list and the pair decide to dip their feet into the toupee market. Calling themselves the Piece Men, they start following the leads even though it takes their mixed-faith business into dangerous areas.

The general humour in Northern Ireland tends to be quite a dry and cynical affair that has grown out of the decades of terrorism that we've had to endure. As with many places the same, a certain gallows humour grows out to help deal with the violence and it is strange therefore that we haven't had more Northern Irish comedies that use the troubles as a background while trading on this darkly rich style of humour. One reason may be seen here though, because this isn't that good a film and it is very uneven in the laughter stakes. The unlikely plot doesn't help either and, although it touches on the problem of living in Northern Ireland and the community struggles, it never seems to have much substance to it consistently – meaning that when it tries to, it doesn't really work.

The laughs are very thinly (sorry) scattered throughout the film and mostly it trades on a sort of Oirish charm that generally the US wants from all Irish films. Being from Northern Ireland I found this push towards that approach to be quite annoying and demeaning and it didn't actually seem to benefit the film in anyway. The cast are OK but they cannot get the laughs and they cannot make characters against the onslaught of "Irish" sentimentality from the music and the tone of the script. McEvoy and O'Byrne lead the film pretty well although it would have been nicer if both had been more relaxed into the comedy and more able to deal with the dramatic sides. As it is, they rest somewhere in-between, doing alright but not that great. Friel is a strange find but she does well enough in support alongside nice turns from people like Convey, McAleer and McLynn – although what Billy Connolly was doing was beyond me.

Overall this is a so-so comedy but not a great one and certainly not one that does justice to the humour of Northern Ireland. The cast are OK but the problems run deeper – the material isn't that funny and isn't as interesting as the community conflicts could have been. Perhaps worth a look but really not that good.

This film was great for exactly what it was: a comedic drama with honest political/cultural commentary.

Set during the 1980's in the British-controlled portion of Ireland, "An Everlasting Piece" is about a Catholic and a Protestant barber who set off to win a monopoly as hair-piece salesman in the north of Ireland.

The style of comedy was what I would call "very British-like". It had that dry and witty sense of humor that is so terrific if you appreciate that sort of thing (just for the record, I'm usually a fan).

As far as the cultural/political commentary goes, an earlier post pointed out that George's family is non-existent in this movie, and that the story revolves around an almost entirely Catholic cast. My response is that to include the Protestant side of the story would have been impossible. To include the loyalist populace (and thus the loyalist paramilitaries, since there would have to be a balancing cinematic force countering the story of the IRA) would have required probably another 3 hours. I think this movie is really about the Catholic-Catholic confrontation. You've an IRA man who says "I want more than to just survive," in an era of unequal rights and opportunities for Irish Catholics, just as it was for the African Americans 2 decades before the film takes place. Then you have a Catholic who believes in "the cause" (ideologically speaking), yet has a Protestant friend who is obviously not concerned with politics or consumed with partisan hatred. The political/cultural issue here is the fact that the ideal the IRA was fighting for in the '80's (at the time, equal rights through union with the Irish Republic)) was legitimate in many respects- yet at what expense?

In the end the "film" is a movie- it is heart-warming entertainment that gives the viewer a general sense of one of the overall issues facing Ireland in the '80's, and it gives a lot of chuckles. It'll make you laugh, feel, and even make you think- so it's worth at least the rental price.