FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING DEPICTS NORTHERN IRELAND AT ITS WORST
The title of the film Fifty Dead Men Walking, as explained at the end of the film, refers to the number of British police and soldiers whose lives were saved by Martin McGartland (played by Jim Sturgess), who spied for the British while working undercover for the Irish Republican Army from 1987-1991. Directed by Kari Skogland, the biopic describes how 22-year-old McGartland is recruited by Dean aka Fergus (played by Ben Kingsley) and then traces his movements inside the IRA and his reports to Fergus, who provides him with a car and money. But McGartland is finally caught by the IRA as a spy and tortured. Still alive, his fate is provided in titles at the end, which give some details of the 38-year occupation of Northern Ireland by the British military. The film is based on the 1997 book with the same title by Nicholas Davies and McGartland. Despite the grainy film quality and the jarring accents of the actors, the Political Film Society has nominated Fifty Dead Men Walking as best film exposé and best film on human rights and peace of 2009. MH
BROTHERS SHOWS THE ADVERSE EFFECT OF THE AFGHAN WAR ON A FAMILY
Several recent films have tried to tell filmviewers of the horrors of war, either on the battlefield itself, or after soldiers return home. One such film, a 2005 Danish independent film Brǿdre has been reborn as Brothers, directed by Political Film Society awardwinner Jim Sheridan. Brothers, which connects the dots between both elements, was released only a few days before President Barack Obama committed more troops to Afghanistan. Just before Captain Sam Cahill (played by Tobey Maguire) is to be sent back to Afghanistan, he picks up his misbehaving brother Tommy (played by Jake Gyllenhaal), who is released from a prison term for assaulting someone. Although Tommy tries to reintegrate with his family at a farewell dinner for Sam, his father Hank (played by Sam Shepard) berates him and others needle him to the point where Tommy hits the table. Soon, Sam says goodbye to his family, including his spouse Grace (played by Natalie Portman) and his two preteen daughters Elsie (played by Mare Winningham) and Isabelle (played by Bailee Madison). After arriving in Afghanistan (filming is in New Mexico), his helicopter is shot down and crashes in a lake. The Marines are unable to find survivors, so two Marines knock on Grace’s door with the bad news, similar to the task handled in The Messenger (2009). Tommy then consoles Grace, ultimately leading to a kiss, and makes a big hit with Sam’s daughters. Meanwhile, Sam is not dead. He is captured and placed in underground detention by the Taliban along with Private Joe Willis (played by Patrick Pflueger) until they are sold to a propaganda unit that has one aim—making a video in which an American says what he is told to say (Americans should get out of Afghanistan). Torture is applied to get the result from Willis, and Sam is ordered to kill Willis, also on camera. Soon thereafter, Sam is rescued in an offensive that also destroys the camera. Sam returns home a shattered man, especially after Tommy brings to the dinner table his new girlfriend, Willis’s widow Cassie (Carey Milligan). Hank admits that his harshness toward his two sons can be traced to his own combat experience in Vietnam. How that plays out is similar to Stop Loss (2008) but with a very different ending. The Political Film Society has nominated Brothers as best film on the vices of war and virtues of peaceful conflict resolution. MH