Details
Movie Description
Starting with Ireland's bloody Easter Rebellion of 1916 and ending with his untimely death, this brilliantly photographed epic from director Neil Jordan tells the charged story of Michael "Mickey" Collins. An IRA founder whose innovative guerrilla tactics succeeded in bringing freedom from British rule, Collins remains a controversial but much respected political figure, who is skillfully embodied in the film by Liam Neeson. Aidan Quinn plays his longtime friend Harry, and Julia Roberts, sporting a nice brogue and lovely period costumes, is Katie, the woman they both love.
Jordan staged most of the battles, riots, ceremonies, and speeches at their actual locations in Ireland with a cast of thousands and a great eye for period detail. The result is a film that is both historically evocative and stunningly beautiful thanks to the breathtaking cinematography of Chris Menges. The film is also surprisingly nonjudgmental in its depiction of Collins's appalling but inarguably successful methods of "bloody mayhem." Stephen Rea and Alan Rickman costar, with Elliot Goldenthal contributing a rich Oscar-nominated score.
Synopsis
MICHAEL COLLINS is a film biography of the notorious Irish freedom fighter, a major figure in Ireland's struggle for independence from England during the 1920s. Neil Jordan's tale chronicles how the passionate Collins spurred his countrymen to craftily ambush and battle the British.
Film Notes
Theatrical release: October 11, 1996 (N.Y.).
MICHAEL COLLINS was shown at the 1996 Venice Film Festival, where it won the Golden Lion for Best Film, and Liam Neeson was named Best Actor.
Industry Reviews
"...A passionate, probing epic..."
Rolling Stone - p.76 - Peter Travers
"...[A] powerful film..."
Sight and Sound - p.55-6 - Charles Townshend
"...A classic performance [from Neeson]....[Roberts is] charming..." -- Rating: B+
Entertainment Weekly - p.49 - Ken Tucker
"...Intelligent, enormously accomplished....Menges' images are seriously artful yet tremendously vital, and it is great to see a master doing what he does best..."
Variety - Todd McCarthy
"...An epic true story, the very stuff of cinema, that has been transferred to film with matching intelligence, skill and elan..."
Los Angeles Times - Kenneth Turan (10/11/1996)
"...[Neeson gives] a performance charged with zest and conviction..."
Chicago Sun-Times - Roger Ebert (10/25/1996)
Quotations
"I hate them for making hate necessary."--Michael Collins (Liam Neeson)
"You told me once I was good at bloody mayhem...and that's what I'm scared of, because once I start, there'll be no stopping me."--Michael to Harry (Aidan Quinn)
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