The Informant

I stumbled onto this on Showtime on a rainy night and expected little of it. To my surprise I was drawn into the plight of those trapped in the vicious stand-off of "The Troubles".

The movie conveys powerfully the oppressiveness of the weight of history that sustains the hatreds and the impossible dilemmas faced by people trying to navigate between the opposing forces.

The acting is generally excellent, particularly Maria Lennon as the wife torn between her husband and her loyalties. Anthony Brophy is superb as the trapped husband. The only weak link is Timothy Dalton who chews a bit too much of the scenery as the detective reeling in the unwilling informant.

The lengthy nude scene of Simone Bendix as Cary Elwes' lover is not "essential to the plot" but Simone is so stunning it would be churlish to complain.

Taut and effective. Give it a look.

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.

Engrossing, suspenseful, honest drama: the best film on "the troubles" ever made.

Put this up against the other IRA movies of recent years, and they pale by comparison.

A visceral experience of the tortured Irish landscape; characters of great depth and complexity.

An even-handed look at both sides of the coin, Protestant and Catholic. What goes on there is, after all, a tragedy for everyone.

This is a movie all should see.

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.

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.