This has been on my list for a long time, mainly because I had no idea who he was. Liam Neeson plays Michael Collins, an Irish revolutionary who, according to the experts interviewed in the documentary about the film, both invented guerrilla warfare and brought peace to Ireland. He was born into the expectation of the region that he would be a postman, was sent to England for school, rose past postman and returned to Ireland at 26 as a financial advisor. This gave him a wonderful front, because no one suspected a successful local businessman who rode a bicycle everywhere to be part of the rebellion. He fought against the British repeatedly, was jailed and released, and ended up high in the ranks of the Irish Republican Brotherhood. He was capable of ruthless, horrible offensive tactics against the British, but was also a great orator and a hero to the people. Eventually, the president of the IRB sent him to England to negotiate a treaty- knowing full well that the Brits would never agree to complete Irish independence, and not wanting to be the bearer of bad news. Collins returned with a treaty that was approved by the Irish government by a slight majority, and he felt it was the best chance for peace and a good start towards the independence they all desired. The IRB president disagreed, a formerly united Irish army was divided, and the fighting continued. Collins was invited north to meet with the president, was ambushed in the road a few hundred feet from where the president was staying, and Collins was shot and killed. You know what's crazy about this? He was 31 years old.
But I'm supposed to be talking about the movie.
Informative. But from the documentary, I take it that Collins actually killed some people, as he's never shown doing himself in the film. Oh- and another interesting fact from the documentary is regarding the multitude of unpaid extras. They rented or bought out all the period costumes in town and showed up in droves. The producer or someone called Alan Rickman, who played the president (because he's SO good at playing the sneering bad guy) and told him that his big rousing speech the next day would be in front of thousands of unpaid people. Alan's response?
"Thank you for telling me that."
But Jennyway, back to the movie. I have to tell you the part two of my Bros before Hoes argument (What is the correct plural form of ho?). See, Liam has this best friend played by Aidan Quinn, and they are super successful at running a revolution together. Then they fall in love with the same woman, played by- dear god- Julia Roberts. It's not that I don't love her- who doesn't love Julia Roberts?- but you should hear her "Irish" accent. Oh my. Anyway, she waffles between them before choosing Liam, and Aidan pulls the wounded puppy dog act. This is why males have to support this stupid bros before hoes idea: it's not that they will respect each other's territory- not at all. It's that they have to forgive each other for it, because otherwise they will carry their grudge SO far that they will go to war over it. Liam and Aidan, of course, end up on opposite sides supposedly because of the treaty, but really because Julia Roberts chose Liam. Well, you know what I mean. But women are supposedly the ones who take irrational actions because of their emotions, hmmm, yes...
The movie was good, very long, but interesting. I could see why they cast Liam, but he is kind of a giant, and the real Michael Collins looked kind of short. I'm not sure why that matters to me, but it does. Also, I never would have realized that he was supposed to be so young. Fascinating history lesson, though. Did you know that British soldiers interrupted a soccer game and randomly shot innocent spectators? Clearly, I found the truth more interesting than the attempt to tell the story.
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