I spent several months scouring DVD stores and P2P networks, looking for Harry's Game, simply because I'd heard from numerous sources that it was the most authentic portrayal of the N. Irish troubles on film. I finally got my hands on a copy, and I was very excited to see what I believed was going to be the best depiction of life in N. Ireland under the shadow of the war.
Dear GOD. The acting, the accents, the dialogue, the camera work, the directing; is there anything in this friggin' series that doesn't seem like it was under the control of a high school media student?
This is the worst - yes, the WORST - depiction of the Troubles I've ever seen, and I've seen some pretty abysmal Troubles-inspired movies, let me tell ya! There are two things, and ONLY two things that make this series tolerable enough so that I could sit through the full three hours. First, the overall visual "bleakness" of the series. It really "felt" like Northern Ireland, and certainly the Northern Ireland of the 80's. As long as no one spoke or acted out anything other than walking around, it was quite authentic. Then again, this probably had nothing to do with the director's/producer's vision and more to do with their budget, but we'll give them the benefit of the doubt. The second positive point is that it appears to have been reasonably well-researched in terms of the "operating procedures" of both the IRA and the British intelligence apparatus. In that respect, it's no more or less authentic than any other half-decent attempt to portray the N. Irish Troubles.
I found myself shaking my head in both disbelief and anger every time someone did or said something on-screen. The casting appears to have been made up predominately of weak B actors, somewhat-known British TV actors, and a handful of N. Irish natives who probably hadn't acted in their lives. The accents...God almighty, the accents. Every single "N. Irish" person in the series - other than those actually FROM N. Ireland - seemed to have developed their own bastardization of the N. Irish accent. They may as well have been from different planets. Some were so bad that I burst out laughing...others were just bad enough to make me cringe. The dialogue was no better; the writer was putting words into the mouths of these characters that they'd never say, and making them spew out their moronic lines at inappropriate/unnecessary times. It just felt weak and unrealistic, which is quite staggering considering the fact that the one word that everyone associates with this series is "authenticity".
The Clannad theme song for the series is a fine piece of music, and the fact that it plays during the end credits is probably a wise choice - end credits, good music; a fair pay-off for having wasted several hours of your life.
Overall Authenticity = 4/10
Overall Entertainment Value = 2/10
This is bog-standard, low-budget 80's TV. Don't expect anything more, and don't expect a history lesson about N. Ireland.
