Introduction
North Ireland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom that is in the northeastern part of Ireland. In 1800 an Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland was the first step in the modern era that made it possible. For many years North Ireland was a troubled land. Many violent and bitter ethnopolitical conflicts are better known as “The Troubles” between those who claimed to be the Roman Catholic Nationalists and the Protestant Unionists occurred. As the name suggests the Unionists advocate union with Great Britain and consider themselves British. Nationalists consider themselves Irish and desire independence. Thanks to the efforts spearheaded by Tony Blair the “Good Friday Agreement” or the Belfast Agreement in 1998 ended the armed conflict. The worst of “The Troubles” are over but the inter-generational conflict will leave its scars for years to come.
Before that agreement, North Ireland was stereotyped in media as a violent war zone where Unionist and Nationalist paramilitaries clashed constantly in defense of their goals. “Patriot Games” and “The Devil’s Own” are two movies that adequately chronicle the cycles of violence that were common during “The Troubles” era. Both star Harrison Ford and will be used as a starting point in a discussion of the Northern Ireland crisis.
The Devil’s Own
Synopsis
Harrison Ford plays an American police officer who is a good neighbor to a North Ireland visitor. He does not know that his visitor Frankie McGuire (Played by Brad Pitt) witnessed the murder of his father by Unionist paramilitaries and is a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA). Frankie is bent on avenging his father’s death and has murdered many people in an effort to sate his lust for vengeance. In fact, Frankie came to him because he is escaping culpability for murdering a group of British soldiers in broad daylight. Thanks to people who are sympathetic to the IRA Frankie is able to escape to the US where he intends to acquire arms to ship to the IRA. The main conflict in the movie is the crisis Tom (Harrison Ford) feels when he learns that Rory is a PIRA soldier and he is torn between his sympathy for Frankie’s cause and his duties as a cop.
Reviews
Charles Taylor, The Saloon
Taylor begins by pointing out that the remastered “Star Wars” Trilogy went to theaters around the same time that “The Devil’s Own” did. He poses the question of how Harrison Ford, who starred in “Star Wars” back in the 1970s, could be cocky and charming in one movie (Star Wars) and be a glum-faced stiff in the second (The Devil’s own).
After giving his synopsis Taylor spends three paragraphs bashing Ford for abandoning his brash boyish charm from his previous roles, such as “Star Wars”, in favor of the gruff stoic roles that he plays. He points out how the movie fails to establish the tension between the gunrunner (Pitt) and the cop (Ford). In addition, he also dissed Pitt for being not believable and claims that Pitt’s only asset is his dreamy looks.
Taylor moves on to the poor scriptwriting, bad directing, and best of all the numerous plot holes he is able to detect such as how the saloon owner/arms dealer gets his hands on his arms or how the judge is able to hide his pro-IRA activities. He does point to the symmetry of the movie where the beginning and end both feature a British Soldier shot as a result of “The Troubles”.
Towards the end, he mentions how the movie blatantly portrays British intelligence agents as assassins when it comes to tracking down IRA fugitives. Violence is gratuitous and at times uncalled for. He recommends other movies for viewers to watch for a better portrayal of “The Troubles”.
When related to the actual events of “The Troubles” the movie displays prominently two major aspects of “The Troubles”. First, the intergenerational nature of the struggle has led to an endless cycle of violence where the sons of the fallen grow up to avenge their fathers. Second, because the fighting has been going on for so long the organizations involved have become deep-seated and have far-reaching connections.
With respect to the intergenerational nature of “The Troubles”, it is good to remember that conventional knowledge defines it as having started in the 1960s after the formation of the Ulster Volunteer Force. That illegal volunteer paramilitary was formed in response to the alleged reformation of the IRA on the 50th anniversary of the original Easter Rising. If such allegations were true then by 1966 both the Unionists and Nationalists now had organized military forces with which to resume the conflict. The UVF committed acts of violence against the Irish Catholics in hopes of inspiring a violent response from the IRA as well as pinning the blame on the IRA and convincing the British government to commit to harsher measures against perceived Nationalists.
Fast forward to the present of “The Devil’s Own”, the fighting has been going on for more than 30 years. The children of the initial fighters have grown to full manhood and are now ready to take up the cudgels for their respective sides. Brad Pitt’s character is an example of this. Embittered by his father’s death at the hands of the British, he seeks to avenge him and kills as many Unionists and British as he can. The result is more deaths and possibly more children who will grow up with a desire for revenge. To some, such as Pitt’s character “The Troubles” is akin to a holy war and salvation can only be obtained by spilling the blood of the enemy.
Noteworthy is the fact that this movie portrays North Ireland as a poor city that has become a virtual battleground between the IRA and the government. Both sides are so desperate to win that they resort to draconian measures such as purchasing weapons overseas or assassination.
The length of the fighting has resulted in the formation of partisan groups outside the “war zone”. The judge that helps Pitt come to America is one example of this. More accurate for the Nationalists this is a direct result of the length of the conflict and the strong ties Irishmen feel for their fellow Irish. Their racial bond is strong enough to overturn conventional considerations like the law. The example of the judge has a considerable basis in truth. Detroit and Boston are just two cities with sizeable enclaves of Irishmen. While they may not have seen Ireland their entire lives many of these people are sympathetic to the plight of the Irish and some may be willing to lend a more active hand.
The Rolling Stone
The rolling stone review is no less critical of “The Devil’s Own”. In fact, it begins by hinting that the film’s script was rewritten so many times it ceases to be coherent. The review claims that the story is biased heavily in favor of the Nationalists because it portrays Pitt as a likable tragic hero. Again there is a dig against Ford for abandoning his boyish persona of yesteryear. Ultimately the Rolling Stone review considers the film utterly stereotypical and does nothing but parade these stereotypes around over the course of the movie. In the end, Pitt’s character is still shown in a positive light and almost showers approval on his person even if he is a killer who has the blood of dozens.
If the Rolling Stones review is any indication “The Devil’s own” does not help much in the understanding of “the Troubles”. Instead, all it does is pander to the stereotypes of people found in the conflict. It is a biased film that glamorizes the IRA with a tragic hero in Pitt but portrays the Unionists/British do not even follow the law and uses assassination as a legitimate policy tool. While unhelpful from an educational point of view “The Devil’s own” will promote knowledge of “the Troubles” by generating interest in the events and perhaps leading the viewer to a more accurate and informative take on the “the Troubles”.
In all, the reviews have not been positive. “The Devil’s own” has been condemned not only by critics but also by Brad Pitt himself. The gratuitous violence is at times unnecessary and mostly appeals to a lower audience. It portrays mostly stereotypes and does not go into the motives behind “the Troubles” beyond the obvious motivation of revenge that Pitt has. Little is said as to why the Irish are so eager to sacrifice their lives to free their land from the British. Not even a cursory mention that the IRA and like groups want to join North Ireland to the rest of the Irish nation.
The main reason the storytelling is so narrow and short-sighted might be because the film is almost entirely set in America. Other than the anecdote Pitt tells Ford about how his father died there is no significant mention of the events in Ireland. Perhaps this is because the only way to tell of these elements would be through dialogue which would be boring since they are talking about events occurring across the Atlantic.
Patriot Games
Synopsis
Retired CIA agent Jack Ryan, played by Harrison Ford, is on vacation in London with his family. He bares witness to a terrorist attack launched against Lord Holmes Secretary of State for Northern Ireland. Ryan’s intervention results in the death of one of the Assassins and the capture of another. Like the Tom Clancy hero that he is Ryan is wounded but successful. Sean Miller, the arrested assassin is a member of the Ulster Liberation Army a break-away group of the IRA. Ryan receives the KCVO or Knight Commander of the Victorian Order.
Meanwhile, on his way to Albany Prison in the Isle of Wight, Miller’s convoy is ambushed by the ULA and he is able to affect an escape. They escape Britain and head for North Africa to plan their next kidnap attempt on Lord Holmes. However, Miller wants to get revenge on Ryan for the death of his brother and convinces some ULA members to travel to the United States to kill Ryan and his family.
While Ryan is able to fight off the attack his family is severely injured in a separate attack. Angered by what happened Ryan returns to work for the CIA even though he had earlier rejected an appeal from his superior to return to work. As a result of his tireless work, Ryan is able to uncover that Miller has taken refuge with a North African warlord. A SAS strike team attacks and kills everyone in the camp. However, Miller and his team have already fled and are en route to their next attempt to attack Lord Holmes.
Lord Holmes decides to visit Ryan at his house to present the KCVO. Coincidentally Miller and his team chose to launch their attack just as he goes to visit Ryan. After getting help from a traitor in Lord Holmes employ they are able to bypass security and attempt to launch another kidnap attempt. Ryan is able to foil this second attempt by acting as a distraction and in typical Jack Ryan fashion, he is able to deal with all the attackers and come out victorious.
Reviews
The Rolling Stone
“Patriot Games” was based off a Tom Clancy bestselling novel of the same name. As a result the Rolling Stone review makes much of the fact that the movie adaptation changed large parts of the book. For example, the original target for kidnapping was Princess Diana Spencer and Prince Charles of Wales. In the movie it was Lord Holmes. The review laments how the powerful, if outrageous, lecture Jack Ryan gives Prince Charles is obviously deleted along with other remarkable elements. It is no wonder that Tom Clancy himself bashed the movie for being a poor adaptation of his book.
In addition to the fact that the story was so heavily sanitized for the film adaptation there is also the fact that the reference to the ULA is secondary and almost fleeting and unnecessary. Naming them ULA was just an excuse so they could have caucus belli against Lord Holmes. There is no mention of the political goals of the ULA or of the Nationalist faction as a whole. In fact, the ULA could have been any random group that just happened to target Lord Holmes when Jack Ryan intervened.
The movie degenerates into a revenge film where the retired Jack Ryan insists on being reinstated just so he could go after those who hurt his family. As expected of a Tom Clancy story he uses hi-tech CIA equipment to smoke out and kill his enemies. Not surprisingly, he personally kills the main antagonist.
Based on the Rolling Stone review, “Patriot Games” use of “the Troubles” era ULA is just an excuse to get what it is ultimately a revenge movie going. There is sparse mention of the politics behind the ULA, only that they want to kidnap Lord Holmes. In other words they are anarchists bent on capturing a high ranking government official. In fact other the mention of their name; Ulster Liberation Army, the alleged Nationalist gain no character development as a group. They could have been any random group.
Sadly un-educational, the “Patriot Games” sheds no light on “the Troubles” era North Ireland. Although in fairness the movie it is an adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel. Clancy is notorious for using different locales, different plot twists and devices but in the end it will always be his precious Americans, in this case Jack Ryan, who will triumph in the end. This time his fertile imagination just fancied another romp for Jack Ryan only this time it would be North Ireland Nationalists who would be the incompetent bad guys and, in the book, it was no less than Prince Charles and Princess Diana who were the helpless American allies who needed saving.
Owen Glieberman Entertainment Weekly
Glieberman makes a very glib and concise synopsis of the movie “Patriot Games”; an adaptation of a Tom Clancy Novel, in which Harrison Ford fights to save his wife and daughter from a small cult of Irish terrorists. That pretty much sums up the whole movie.
Jack Ryan’s family is an idealized American family. This makes them even more sympathetic when they are ruthlessly attacked by the evil ULA. The terrorists are a bland, sketchy lot; we barely even learn why they have rejected their fellow Irish radicals. He mentions. All we ever get to know about the ULA is that they are a break away group outcast for being too radical.
Again the greatest limitation of the movie in telling the Irish story is that it was written by techno-thriller extraordinaire Tom Clancy. He has zero interest in Ireland other than making it provide him with the latest set of villains for his book. This can be seen by the numerous talkie parts where Jack Ryan gets back his job and he becomes a vigilante. Yet for all the scenes of the ULA all they are also fighting for is revenge for the death of one of their members. No mention of their goals or why they are fighting. There isn’t even token mention of the fact that the ULA is supposedly an IRA break away and that there is a shadow war going on in their homeland.
Conclusion
Neither film is highly education or informative about “the Troubles”. Both are too focused telling a tale of Harrison Ford struggling with an Irish “terrorist” to give much background information about “the Troubles”. “Patriot Games” is particularly useless because the ULA is just a cardboard caricature of a radical terror group. Ulster could easily have been any other place because the ULA members have absolutely no character to recommend to themselves. “The Devil’s own” at least goes through the trouble of telling the audience why Brad Pitt was a cold hearted killer. Still there is little in his actions that evokes sympathy other that the sympathy of Mosaic / Karmic law. British and Irish are killing each other in North Ireland, the movie never tells us why.
In the end there are better films to watch for purposes of learning about “the Troubles” era. The films are too focused on telling an action story to have any value as a narrative as to those turbulent years. At best both trumpet the stereotype that North Ireland Irish are violent, radical anarchists without ever giving the reason why they are such. The struggle for independence or unification, depending on which side of the spectrum they belong, is not given any value.
Works Cited
Pakula, Alan. (Movie) The Devil’s Own 1997.
Taylor Charles, The Dreamboat and the Stiff (1997). Web.
The Rolling Stone, The Devil’s Own Review (2000). Web.
The Rolling Stone Patriot Games Review (2000). Web.
Glieberman, Owen. Patriot Games Movie Review (1992). Web.