In the Name of the Father

“In the Name of the Father,”, January 21, 2022 (1993), DVD.  Reading Say Nothing (Patrick Radden Keefe) for our book group, I thought I’d watch this film as a cinematic pairing.  Jim Sheridan co-wrote and directed this story of The Troubles based on Gerry Conlon’s memoir.  We very much liked this painful look at the experiences of the Guilford Four, the Irish charged with deadly Guilford Pub Bombing in London.  It’s 1974, the hottest time of “The Troubles,” but for Gerry Conlon (excellent work from Daniel Day Lewis) it’s just time to flee Belfast and start over in London.  He’s a petty thief and both the IRA and police are making life hot for him.  So hot that were it not for his father Giuseppe (the wonderful Pete Postlethwaite) intervening, he might have had a bullet in the leg.  London blows up with the pub and the police settle on Gerry, his friend Paul from Belfast, and family – including his father – caught up in the frameup.  The film follows his life from Ulster through the sham arrest, police brutality, forced concessions, and fifteen years of hell in English prisons, a hell exacerbated by the arrival of the real IRA bomber (a purely fictional device for the purposes of the film).  The bomber’s willingness to take the blame doesn’t matter to the police and legal system, and while he initially inspires Gerry, his pathological hatred eventually leads them to separate.  Conlon’s father’s struggle to raise a support movement while imprisoned finally yields results in the person of Gareth Pearce (Emma Thompson) who takes up their case and slowly uncovers the truth of the matter.  This is well acted, emotional, and a remarkable indictment of police criminality, bigotry, and the perversion of law and justice.  It’s also an important look at Ireland’s Troubles, the conditions that created them and the IRA, and the difficulties of moving forward.  I didn’t see this when it first came out.  It’s worth the effort.  But it’s also important to understand the addiction and nervous breakdowns he faced after he left prison and that is not within the film’s time frame.  He put his life back together by helping other unjustly incarcerated prisoners.