In the Name of the Father

As I walked in on my Dad watching TV, the movie "In the Name of the Father" came on. My Dad strongly recommended that I watch it with him because he said it was very well done. So I thought "Why not? I still have to make a blog on a movie anyways". After watching the whole movie, I found it to be great!  "In the Name of the Father" is based on the true story about the Guildford Four and was directed by Jim Sheridan. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis (playing Gerry Conlon), Emma Thompson (playing Gareth Peirce), and Pete Postlethwaite (playing Giuseppe Conlon). The setting of the movie first takes place in Northern Ireland during the problems between an Irish terrorist group known as the IRA, and the British government. The IRA formed to try and reunite Northern Ireland, which is part of Britain, with the rest of the predominantly Catholic Republic of Ireland. During this time the IRA was an extremely violent group that tried to intimidate the British through violence. The main premise behind the story is the false conviction of four young Catholics and their family, who were wrongly convicted for supposedly being the IRA terrorists who bombed the Guildford Pub, killing five people. The conflict in the film is between the British police who try to cover up the fact that they arrested and convicted innocent people, and the victims fight to reveal the truth and free themselves from this injustice. It is a really well done movie that if you have not seen it yet, I would definitely recommend that you do so.

Now that you have heard my own comments on the movie, I will give you the main description of it so that you can decide if you would enjoy watching this yourself. The movie begins with the main character Gerry Conlon, a Catholic, who lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Of course during this time the IRA was stirring up a lot of chaos in this area, in efforts to unite Ireland. During this time, Garry Conlon was messing around with the British Military, getting involved in riots. His father, Giuseppe Conlon, feared for his safety, getting him to move to England to live with his Aunt Anne Maguire, for the time being, until things settle down back home. In his stay in England, he decides to live with a group of hippies instead of with his aunt. After getting in a fight with one of the hippies at this abandoned house, Gerry and his friend Paul Hill, who is also from Ireland, go out for the night to blow off some steam. They decide to spend the night on a bench with a homeless man named Charles Burke (a key character in the trial), who they were with while the incident of the Guildford Pub bombing happened. Later, they ended up bumping into a female prostitute who was inconsiderate towards Gerry. As she drives off in a car, she accidently drops her keys without noticing. In spite, Gerry robs her apartment, taking a large stash of her money. Coincidentally, Gerry and Paul ended up buying some extravagant clothes with their money. They were linked to the bombing through the supposed evidence of being falsely accused by the same hippie that they argued with the previous night, and also being some of the few Catholic's in that area. This was enough to get a warrant, so that they could try to force them to confess.  After visiting back home, Gerry and Paul were interrogated by the police, who took them back to Britain to be to be question about the bombing. The criminal investigators harassed and tortured them mentally and physically to try to get them to confess to a crime that they did not commit. In his son’s defense, Gerry's father Giuseppe Conlon came to try and negotiate with the police to see what the problem could be. However, he and the rest of his family were arrested instead for supposedly supplying the "Guildford Four" with homemade bombs. Eventually, Paul Hill is forced to confess to a crime he did not commit when the police shove a gun down his throat, forcing to do so or else they would kill him. Soon after, Gerry Conlon is also forced to admit to the same crime that he also did not commit, threatening to kill his father if he did not do so either. For the most part, the investigators just wanted any possible group to be labeled and put in jail for this horrible crime in order to keep the angered English public satisfied. The movie really picks up in pace after this, leading them to a court trial where they are accused for the bombing. Each of them are sentenced to prison for years, including Gerry's sentence for a lifetime. Eventually, a lawyer named Gareth Peirce puts her faith in their case, devoting years of her life to get an appeal with the proper supportive evidence to get them all out of jail. This is where the movie really begins to get good, so I won't ruin anymore for you, but you should definitely go watch it to find out. Here is a little preview that you are welcome to go watch: "In the Name of the Father". I hope everyone enjoys this one!