I had been meaning to watch Michael Collins for some time now. I'm a little ignorant of the particulars of the Irish struggle, so I can't reasonably comment on how historically accurate the film is. But the one thing to remember about all films like this, especially in America, they tend to venerate their subjects. Especially when it comes to the Irish in this country, where everyone is Irish at least one day out of the year, to speak ill of the Irish struggle is tantamount to asking a bunch of drunk skinheads wearing green and orange to come to you door with foul intentions. But this is not a review about the Irish struggle, it's about a movie, so let's dive right in.
The movie is about the travails of the titular protagonist, Michael Collins (played by Liam Neeson), who essentially is responsible for the modern IRA as well as the modern Irish state. In the beginning of the 20th century, the Irish had rebelled again and again against the English to be brutally suppressed again and again. Obviously, this chain of events is not without precedent in other countries. However, Collins set up a violent wing of the Irish cause that began what could be charitably described as urban warfare, but in reality, was essentially a terror campaign against British occupiers in Ireland. At the same time, the legitimate political wing was run by Eamon de Valera (in a understated but well-acted turn by the late, great Alan Rickman). Because of Collins' increasingly clever, but violent and ultimately successful campaign, he is sent to negotiate with the British for a free, but divided Irish state, essentially what exists today. He then becomes a defender of this new state against an even more radical wing of the IRA that wants the whole nation freed, a wing led by his old ally and leader, de Valera. Eventually, Collins is killed by an assassin working with de Valera.
Biopics are tricky things. On the one hand, you want to illustrate the important events that happened to the subject in a relatively short amount of time. 2-3 hours is just not enough time to encapsulate anybody's life. At the same time, a biopic is not a documentary. It has to, in the end, be entertaining. With this, the director must decide to compress time, omit or combine people and events and generally manipulate the story to tell his point of view. This tends to eulogize characters and give them virtues that they may not have had. It sentimentalizes a person. Faults are overlooked, strengths are enhanced. Director and writer Neil Jordan is Irish himself, and there is no shortage of martyrology in the film, both for the IRA and the nation of Ireland, but I can't blame him for that. It's tough to take objective views of things when you have grown up in the myths of them. However, one of the points I did like about the film was at least an attempt at objectivity.
Like the great biopic Malcolm X, Michael Collins attempts to show a man who tries to change his disreputable past for a brighter future for everyone. As Collins becomes more enmeshed with the politics engendered after the successful terror campaign, he tries to find a genuine, albeit gradual path to peace. Others, including de Valera don't see it that way and eventually kill him for it. This is where the movie gets confusing, because it never explained de Valera's rationale for turning against and eventually killing Collins after everything Collins did for him. That would be an interesting story. Was it jealousy, fear, intolerance, or all three? The movie doesn't say.
Jordan is a very good director at establishing mood, and the mood is very dour indeed, considering the subject matter. In fact, the whole film is pretty good except for one, almost fatal flaw, and that is Julia Roberts. Almost everyone involved in the film is either Irish or at least a Brit, outside of Aiden Quinn and Roberts. But while Aiden Quinn is actually a good actor, Roberts is not. Her best actress Oscar for Erin Brockovich was about as deserved as John Wayne's in The Shootist. Neither are particularly good actors except for their own persona. I spent half the movie trying to figure out if it was her, and then the rest in open-gaped amazement at how bad she was. Remember, this was the height of Roberts' fame and power. She's not particularly beautiful like other Hollywood actresses, nor can she really act very well. In this movie, she frankly should not have even tried an Irish accent with how many times it slipped. I guess I just have never gotten her and her appeal. She's okay, but not great. And in this film, she almost singlehandedly brings it crashing to a halt.
So, overall, the movie is okay. Unfortunately, it could have been great.
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