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A tremendously important, albeit somewhat problematic movie."Some people are what the times demand, and life without them seems impossible," Michael Collins's associate Joe O'Reilly (Ian Hart) says at the beginning of this movie. "But he's dead. And life is possible. He made it possible."
Much more than a comment on Collins's assassination, these lines instantly set the tone for Neil Jordan's controversial biography of "The Big Fellow," one of Irish history's most divisive personalities: the first modern terrorist leader, who invented urban warfare but also went to London to negotiate the 1921 agreement creating the Irish Free State which, realizing its widespread unacceptability, would-be President Éamon de Valera (reportedly) hadn't wanted to bring home personally, and which Collins himself prophetically referred to as his "death warrant."
Michael Collins was born in 1890 in West Cork, a farmer's son, and introduced to the quest for Irish sovereignty by his schoolmaster, a member of the Irish Republican Brotherhood, which Collins soon joined as well and in whose ranks he began to rise during his nine years as a London clerk (1905 – 1914). Returning to Ireland, he participated in the unsuccessful 1916 "Easter Rising" and, in the barely six remaining years of his life, created the Irish Republican Army as an organized terrorist group with the single aim of ending British rule, and with a small assassination command directly answering to Collins himself, nicknamed "The Twelve Apostles." After the 1921 treaty had polarized Irish politics to the point of civil war, leaving Collins and de Valera on opposite sides (the most divisive issue being the required oath of allegiance to the British crown; not, as indicated here, Partition), Michael Collins was shot in an ambush near his home in County Cork; ironically in a place known as Beal na mBlath ("Mouth of Flowers").
Several years in the making, Neil Jordan's movie likely was made possible only by the (short-lived) 1995 ceasefire in Northern Ireland. Ambitiously conceived and according to Jordan himself his most important film, it sets out to explore the manifold contradictions within Collins's personality; stopping short, however, of showing him to ever personally commit murder or other acts of violence – which is amply exhibited otherwise – and ultimately espousing the side of those who wish Collins to be remembered more for his contributions to Irish sovereignty than for his acts of terrorism.
Liam Neeson stars in the title role, for which he is a perfect match: physically (both in height and, to some extent, even in his facial features) and also because, like Collins, he was born in rural County Cork, and brought an intuitive understanding to the part no outsider could have had. And he gives a tour-de-force performance, one of his best ever, bringing to life a man who could be ruthless and charming, proud and humble, exuberant and desperate, often within mere minutes of one another. Alan Rickman likewise brings his extraordinary talent to the role of Éamon de Valera – although I would have wished the script had allowed him to more fully display the multiple facets of this politician who, far more than merely Michael Collins's rival, was one of 20th century Ireland's most important statesmen, drafter of the 1936 constitution which equates national and territorial unity (a claim only modified after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement and still not uniformly abandoned) and establishes the primacy of both the Gaelic language and Catholicism; and founder of Fianna Fail, one of modern Ireland's major political parties. Nevertheless he comes across here, and certainly through no fault of Rickman's, as much more devious, coldblooded and sometimes even small-minded than he probably was. Problematic is also Jordan's choice to have Collins and de Valera communicate, the night before Collins's assassination, through an intermediary who is later seen as the assassin himself: If Jordan, as he insists, indeed didn't intend to suggest that de Valera had anything to do with Collins's death, this plot device – not grounded in fact anyway – is easily misinterpreted.
As important as Collins's interaction with de Valera is that with his best-friend-turned-foe Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn, who likewise gives a tremendous performance, although it's a pity to see him type-cast yet again as the honorable man turned bitter after losing out to an ostensibly more charismatic rival) and their – real-life! – love triangle with Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts, whose badly coached Irish accent detracts from her performance's other merits). Although Jordan again takes liberties with historic facts here – most notably, Boland didn't die in the sewers but was shot in a hotel room – Neeson and Quinn have incredible on-screen chemistry; and the slow change of their relationship, ground to shreds between political intrigue and rivalry for the hand of the same woman in a development both are unable (and ultimately unwilling) to prevent, is one of the film's greatest strengths.
Lastly, Stephen Rea deserves mention for his wonderfully unassuming portrayal of Ned Broy, the intelligence operative who finds Collins so "persuasive" that his assignment as his "shadow" eventually makes him turn the tables on his British superiors and secretly provide Collins with information, while simultaneously preventing his capture (and who, far from being tortured and killed as shown here, would go on to head the Irish gardaí).
Commercially "Michael Collins" undoubtedly suffered from the comparison with "Braveheart" which, released only a year prior, and while likewise not shying from the graphic display of violence, takes an even grander, unapologetically epic approach to a rebel leader's life. Moreover, some of Collins's lines sound eerily familiar to those who had heard William Wallace declare his desire for "a home, and a family ... but it's all for nothing if we don't have freedom." (Similarly, Collins tells Boland that he wants "peace and quiet ... so much [he'd] die for it," and when challenged "You mean you'd kill for it first," he responds, "No, not first. Last.") But financial bottom line and directorial liberties aside, this is a tremendously important movie, well worth watching by anybody interested in Ireland's recent history.
"Michael Collins" at the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)
Themis-Athena's select Alan Rickman filmography
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