The Informant

This is arguably the best film there is about the troubles in Northern Ireland. Unlike films like Michael Collins, or In The Name of The Father, in this movie the IRA members are not shown as the romantic quasi-heroes they are thought to have been ages ago, they are shown as what they really are now: terrorists, capable of destroying the lives of not only their enemies, but also of many irish families who try to follow the normal course of their lives. The informant of the title is an ex-IRA assassin who makes a deal with the police, and gives the name of his employers. He and his family are then considered traitors of the "irish" cause, even though his wife, being more influenced by anti-brit propaganda, was against the so-called betrayal from the start. But she fails to escape the turmoil that follows: the poor girl is even raped by an IRA ganglord, as some kind of punishment for their betrayal, in a scene that certainly does away with the romanticism that can be expected from such a theme. This is certainly a view of the subject never shown in recent films about the Northern Ireland troubles. At the end of the day, unlike other similar films, there is no "moderate" faction of the IRA to solve things up, no Daniel Day-Lewis type guy to save the day, but only the feeling that things go on unsolved...

The makers of this film threw plenty into the mix of a deceptively simple story of a reluctant IRA man (Anthony Brophy) forced to turn supergrass when caught redhanded carrying out a rocket attack on a judge. There are enough bits and pieces thrown in here about the 800-year history of the troubles to give a decent idea of the big picture, even to those like myself who aren't all that familiar with Irish history. We see a bit of the historical background, the current English, Loyalist and IRA positions, how hatred is perpetuated through the next generation, how the innocent as always are victimised the most. It's a heady mix in a gritty and disturbing film, and to their credit, the film makers quite rightly decided not to resolve their story, just like the Troubles themselves. One quibble. Despite good performances, it's a bit hard to accept the central characters being as old as they're supposed to be. Ginger (have I spelt that right?) is meant to have have spent a total of 10 years in prison and we assume his wife has spent an equal time doing it tough raising the kids. It's a bit to believe this when they are played by young spunks Brophy and Maria Lennon.

This movie is by far the best of its kind. It is the most accurate description of the troubles in Northern Ireland i have seen. Unlike "Michael Collins" and other such movie's, The Informant did not idolise the I.R.A yet showed them for their true selves. Criminals, terrorists... But the movie didn't only focus on violence. It focus'd on a family, trying to get away from it all, trying to turn over a new leaf and start over. but to do so, the man of the family must "Inform" the R.U.C of names of the I.R.A members. In doing so he brings trouble on his family. Shame to his name, being a former I.R.A member, the lead of this movie really played his character to full potential.

I would have to rate this movie 9 out of 10.

A compelling plot line and good acting from Timothy Dalton, somewhat hampered by his on-again-off-again Irish accent, with superb efforts from Carey Elwes, Maria Lennon and Anthony Brophy, make this film a must see for anyone with an interest in "The Troubles".

Although the plot tends to be somewhat heavy handed in its depiction of the English being the good guys, the storyline does a great job leading us through the torment of one man's decision to tout and the ripple effect this causes on everyone he's known. Maria Lennon plays the tortured wife exceptionally well and allows us to imagine the how painful living in Northern Ireland in the early 1980s must have been.

Were it not for the bias of the plot line being so one-sided I would have given this film a 9 out of 10.

Well I am in the middle of doing my thesis for my masters degree in history and my subject is the IRA. Now, this film, although it is quite good, beats around the stereotype picture I sometimes read about the English government would like to project as part of the criminalisation of the IRA. Hereby not defending any of the involved parts, I just find it sad to see, how narrowminded the irish basically are portrayed while the archtype of chivalry is of course english (and notice the stupid scotsman in the end of the movie). This could be something out of an english propaganda film!

If you look away from this, the movie is wellwritten and well played. there is a lot of human expressions of love and hate, and it all fits nicely together. I enjoyed the film, but thought that it just as well could have been a mobster movie...there were so many things that were wrong but still, it was nice... 5/10