50 Dead Men Walking (2008)

This story is based on the true story of a northern Irish man (Jim McGArtland) who joins the IRA and is also a informant for the government who is trying to stop the IRA's often random slaughter of people (terrorism) that was occurring during the late 1980's. To be fair the IRA was enforcing law when things were breaking down as well; but often they would target whole pubs or such for a murderous attack. And they were a terrorist organization who tortured people to death. (touts or informants in particular). The informant working the police is able to stop many attacks and he saves at least 50 men who were personally targeted. Hence the title of the movie. "50 dead men walking", men who were doomed but still alive because of the informant. Will the informant survive?, and what happens when MI-5 acts just as brutally against a IRA man? This story is one that deserves to be told and the acting is excellent. This is a solid movie featuring the always excellent Ben Kingsley as the man who oversees the informant. Rose McGowen shines in a supporting role as the ruthless head of IRA intelligence who will use her assets to kill or gain information. Every actor including the young lead Jim Sturgess play believable people who are driven by the hideous conditions (economic poverty, violence, racial intolerance, political fanaticism) of Northern Ireland that existed then. One IMPORTANT thing about this movie is that you may want to use the English subtitles because the northern Irish speak very quickly in their own slang English which is understandable but not that easy to follow without the subtitles. The bluray print is excellent and is well mastered so you won't have a problem with it in anyway. This was made by the Irish but it is as professional as any movie made by anyone else. In other words this is a gritty realistic drama that pulls no punches and is well made. It features a number of deleted scenes as well that were cut from the flick , some should have stayed in but most are character building scenes. This is not a low budget badly made movie at all, it's a good mostly TRUE story about sacrifices and about the hard choices that the informant is facing while he infiltrates the IRA. This was directed by Kari Skogland who knows how to direct a decent movie and lets hope she keeps directing and continues to improve as a director.

3.3 stars

50DMW was enjoyable on some fronts, especially Kingsley's acting and some great moments in the script, but I just couldn't buy Sturgess as Martin. He never made me feel for him one way or the other, I saw no real motivation for selling his friends out, and he just didn't seem at all believable.

Skogland's directing is solid, as is the script for the most part, but the occasionally brutal violence and tortures left me disliking both sides of the conflict equally. If Sturgess had been more sympathetic this film would have worked so much better for me. But maybe that's the point: he was what he was, neither good nor bad (or very bad, if you're pro-IRA).

I don't know enough about the "Troubles" to say who's right or wrong. My heart tends to side with home rule, but when one looks at all the innocent people dead on both sides it adds up to nobody being right. This movie could have made me feel so much more but Sturgess just seems on the fence in every way throughout, and by the end I was happy to see it all end, leaving me feeling that nothing had really been accomplished but more pain and death, despite the claim he saved 50 lives.

He sure didn't come off as much of a hero here, and ultimately all the violence just felt pointless. The film raises many questions and answers none, which may be the point. But I didn't feel like I learned much, or enjoyed it much, and without one or the other I can't say I loved any film, no matter how competent it may be. I did enjoy some of the supporting acting a fair bit, in any case, and Kingsley is excellent as always.

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Knowing the history behind this film I was looking forward to watching it. I was to be very disappointed. The film is very slanted in it's account of the war. It starts by doing a voice over amid pictures of violence suggesting that the British army was sent into act as peacemakers. This period of the conflict relates to a series of marches (inspired by the civil rights marches in the US) Irish nationalists engaged in to demand equal civil rights. The British army reacted with violence against the marches most famously in Derry when they murdered 13 innocent people and lied for years afterward about what happened. Just last year the new British government admitted the truth and apologized. This sets the films tone with the British portrayed as just trying to keep the peace and as good guys which simply isn't truthful and not backed up historically. At the end there is some additional information given about things that happened after the time frame of the film. They state that after the good friday agreement the British army withdrew it's troops. This is not true. There are still in the region of 5,000 British troops there.

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50 DEAD MEN WALKING is an unusually powerful film that brings to the screen the real life story of Martin McGartland on whose book it is based (with co-writer Nicholas Davies). Director Kari Skogland has managed to recreate the flavors of the 1980s in Ireland at war with the British. The violence in the film may be difficult for some viewers but it so integrated with the story that it would not seem as fine a film without it.

Martin McGartland (Jim Sturgess) was a fly-by-night, door-to-door salesman in Belfast in the 80s. He is bonded with mates such as Sean (Kevin Zegers) among others and they manage to get into all manner of trouble until they are united with the IRA (Irish Republican Army) to defeat the British: of note at the end of the film, the British were in Ireland as occupiers for a total of 38 years, ending only in 2008 with a peace treaty! Martin feels a sense of duty with the IRA and is observed by the British intelligence, namely one Fergus (Sir Ben Kingsley) who convinces Martin to join forces as a 'tout' or informer within the IRA. It is this play of double lives that brings McGartland to a terrifying life, a life made whole only by his love for his girlfriend Lara (Natalie Press) and their children (born and unborn). The struggle Martin endures between loyalty to his mates and loyalty to the British who see Martin's role as one that could save the lives of at least '50 Dead Men Walking' is the line of the film that never lets up for a moment of rest in its demonstration of the futility of 'war', no matter what level.

Jim Sturgess is superb as Martin and the large supporting cast is as fine as any casting director could find. This is a very intense film, a film so true to the Irish brogue that subtitles are necessary to understand much of the story. It is a film well worth viewing, especially if the confusion about the long Irish/British war is not clearly understood by the viewer. Grady Harp, January 10

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American gangster movies tend to either glorify the mafia, or make it into a joke (Joe Pesci in "Goodfellas", etc.). This movie is a very brutal and realistic view of the IRA and the situation in northern Ireland. The acting is first rate. Ben Kingsley is excellent, and I wanted to write down some of his statements (on the IRA men: "They are killers who just found something to kill for"). The violence is brutal and realistic. We see men shot dead drinking pints of ale and blown up in vans and shot dead in front of their children. We see the British military bashing teenagers with rifle butts. I agree though, that this movie, although VERY informative about the situation in Ireland in the 1980s, is really ultimately a human story, and not a political one. This story could easily be transposed to Algeria, or Israel-Palestine, or Tibet, or anywhere that there is a conflict. I think also that any American who "supports" the IRA should be "forced" to watch this movie. I now know why my local Irish pub owner where I live from Dublin and who has seen this story up close refuses to serve "Irish Car bombs", but will serve you an "Irish Peacemaker" instead !

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