In The Name Of The Father

Action, Crime, Thriller

Daniel Day-Lewis	Gerald Conlon
Emma Thompson	Gareth Peirce
Trevor Eve
Michael Garin Turner	Boy
Pete Postlethwaite	Guiseppe Conlon
John Lynch	Paul Hill
Corin Redgrave	Robert Dixon
Beatie Edney	Carole Richardson
John Benfield	Chief PO Barker
Gerard McSorley	Belfast Detective Pavis
Frank Harper	Ronnie Smalls
Don Baker	Joe McAndrew

Director

Jim Sheridan; Paul Warner

If it had been written as a piece of fiction no one would have believed it, but In the Name of the Father is the true story of one of the most shocking episodes in British legal history. Dealing with the events surrounding the Guildford pub bombing in 1974 and the subsequent 15-year fight for justice, the film portrays a nation in the grip of an anti-system, desperate to find culprits at any cost, however immoral, illegal or brutal. By playing out the drama in personal as well as political terms--the relationship between Gerry Conlon (Day-Lewis) and his father (Pete Postlethwaite) becomes the story's centrepiece--the film works on numerous levels, but the events are no less shameful for it. The court case that ultimately freed the three men and one woman only takes centre stage for the last 20 minutes but despite that--and the fact that the outcome is no secret--it is high drama and completely gripping. This is an unmissable example of genuinely courageous cinema.

On the DVD: Where the real-life events behind the film might have offered huge scope for additional material, the DVD provides little beyond production and cast notes. The film's re-creation of both 1970s Belfast and London is very realistic, intensified by the anamorphic screen ratio, and the excellent soundtrack (including Bono, Sinead O'Connor and Thin Lizzy), which helps drive the action, is intensified by the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack. --Phil Udell