Michael Collins (1996)

[Os Cangaceiros]

Michael Collins is a film about, well, Michael Collins. Liam Neeson plays him in the film. I don't know anything about Irish history, but according to the film, he was an Irish rebel leader who was involved in the Easter Rising of 1916, is imprisoned, and later becomes a kind of urban guerrilla figure who really irritates the occupying British forces. Later on he becomes involved in the Irish free state after the British agree to a truce.

It was an entertaining movie I thought. Julia Roberts was a terrible casting choice, though. I thought the character of Eamon de Valera (Alan Rickman) was interesting in the film...he's kind of portrayed almost as a villain in the later part of the movie, but he seemed to be a dedicated republican, more hardline than Collins. Dunno how historically accurate the film is.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

I remember seeing this a few years back. I liked it at the time, but I need to watch it again ... most of the details escape me.

[Ballyfornia]

Watch The wind that shakes the barley. It is a film by Ken Loach, It has a far more interesting take on the civil war about how the pro treaty where like the English . Like a lot of his films there are references to socialist politics, but this one is probably his best.

[Firebrand]

Yeah, i've seen both michael collins and the wind that shakes the barley, and the wind that shakes the barley was definately the better of the two. It shows the motivations and reasons for peoples actions in a far more complex and believable way.

[PhoenixAsh]

I think both films are very good. Collins is a good film but slightly oversimplified and won't beat The Wind that Shakes the Barley...which is excellent and made a real lasting impression. But nevertheless I would seriously recommend watching Collins as well.




Though I have to say....snape betrays everybody even before being snape :D

[ColonelCossack]

Yeah, i've seen both michael collins and the wind that shakes the barley, and the wind that shakes the barley was definately the better of the two. It shows the motivations and reasons for peoples actions in a far more complex and believable way.


The Wind that Shakes the Barley...which is excellent and made a real lasting impression.


I third this. The wind that shakes the barley is very good, and i'd recommend it.

[brigadista]

michael collins was killed up the road from where the wind that shakes the barley was filmed...there is a monument there named "the site of the ambush"

[praxis1966]

As much as I do know about the history of the Irish struggle, the story of Michael Collins isn't one I've studied particularly heavily. From what I understand from talking to people who are pretty well versed in that area, they say the film is horrendously inaccurate...

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

Watch The wind that shakes the barley.
Definitely watch that film. It's one of the rare films I'd give 5 out of 5 stars to for quality.

[Danielle Ni Dhighe]

As much as I do know about the history of the Irish struggle, the story of Michael Collins isn't one I've studied particularly heavily. From what I understand from talking to people who are pretty well versed in that area, they say the film is horrendously inaccurate...
It's a typical Hollywood biopic, meaning it takes liberties with history for the sake of entertainment.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Based on the Wikipedia article on the film, it appears that there are a few inaccuracies, although the director defended some of these by saying that not everyone is well-versed in the backstory of Irish history, and the shorthand was necessary or else the movie would be boring for audiences.



Although based on historical events, the film does contain some alterations and fictionalizations such as the death of Harry Boland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Boland). Boland did not die in the manner suggested by the film. He was shot in a skirmish with Irish Free State soldiers in The Grand Hotel, Skerries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skerries,_Dublin), North Co. Dublin during the Battle of Dublin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Dublin). The hotel has since been demolished but a plaque was put where the building used to be. His last words in the film - "Have they got Mick Collins yet?" - are however, based on a well-known tradition.[6] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(film)#cite_note-5)
Ned or Eamon Broy was captured but later released and was not killed on the eve of Bloody Sunday. This scene is based on the Capture of leading members of the Dublin Brigade; Dick McKee, Peadar Clancy and young man from Clare Conor CLune. Broy would later become Commissioner of An Garda Siochana in 1932.
Neil Jordan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Jordan) defended his film by saying that it could not provide an entirely accurate account of events, given that it was a two-hour film that had to be understandable to an international audience who would not know the minutiae of Irish history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Ireland).[7] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(film)#cite_note-6) The documentary on the DVD release of the film also discusses its fictional aspects.
Critic Roger Ebert (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Ebert) referred to the closing quotation from de Valera that history would vindicate Collins at his own expense, writing that "even Dev could hardly have imagined this film biography of Collins, which portrays De Valera as a weak, mannered, sniveling prima donna whose grandstanding led to decades of unnecessary bloodshed in, and over, Ireland."[8] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Collins_(film)#cite_note-7)