Michael Collins was sort of entertaining but I feel that this was better because it was less of a grand spectacle and more of a grounded story.
Any thoughts?
well, michael collins is a little more free state bias, and this is a little more anti free state. so i say both together. (but just as a movie, this is better. because julia roberts isn't in it)
shareI prefer Michael Collins, but this is good, as it's more historically accurate.
shareI prefer this as it has a sort of gritty realism about it... And Julia (token Yank) Roberts isn't in it.
shareAnd Julia (token Yank) Roberts isn't in it.
The actor portraying Harry Boland, Aidan Quinn, despite the tailor-made name, is also an American.Aidan Quinn was born to Irish immigrant parents and actually spent a lot of his youth in Ireland. Where are you getting this tailor made business?
And as an Irishman born and bred while his accent in 'This is my father' left a lot to be desired, very much improved in 'Song for a Raggy Boy', I thought his accent in 'Michael Collins' was almost impeccable.
So his accent is curiously inconsistent.Yes but that's not the discussion. You said his accent was poor in this and I replied that while he missed the posts at other attempts it was impeccable here. So I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.
You said his accent was poor in this and I replied that while he missed the posts at other attempts it was impeccable here. So I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.
Go to bed! There's a good little troll!!
We have to show the world that not all of us are like him: Henning von Tresckow.
The dialogue and the acting are far better in BARLEY and less theatrical. Most of the conversation/argument scenes (the ones that do not dissolve into lengthy screaming matches where you can't actually hear much of what is said) have a very natural, improvised nature to them which does lend it a more realistic edge.
The cinematography is also excellent. The mixture of bleakness and beauty does capture rural Ireland very well.
The politics and historical accuracy of one against the other? I won't go there.... What I will say is that at school in England in the 70s and 80s we never got taught a blind thing about the history of Irish Independence. Nothing. It was never touched on.
Barley by a substantial margin.
The first half of Michael Collins is pretty gripping stuff, and I think it conveys the desperation in the war of independence that culminates in Bloody Sunday pretty effectively--writer-director Neil Jordan has a firm hold on his story up to then. But once Collins goes to England during the truce, and returns with the Free State compromise, which then (rather clumsily) ushers in the antagonism between him and de Valera, the film loses both steam and focus, with the climax, cued portentously by the soundtrack, an equally maudlin and heavy-handed juxtaposition of Kitty Kiernan's wedding preparations and the ambush that will kill Collins, which you can see coming a mile away.
By contrast, director Ken Loach and writer Paul Laverty take a hoary cliche--that brother will fight brother in a civil war--and give it increasing weight and credibility as Barley goes forward. Its great strength, I think, is to focus on how the war of independence and then the civil war impacts a local community, including some pointed divisions within the community that is ostensibly united against the British, and particularly how the action keeps returning to Sinead's farmhouse, especially in the powerful close. Furthermore, rather than the grandstanding by the principals in MC, the shifting, conflicting dynamics in TWTSTB are reflected in the actions and reactions of the locals. Loach and Laverty understand that, ultimately, all politics is local, and it is most effective here.
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Neither. They both have uncomfortable levels of violence. I would like to see a movie about the era that is a little more suitable for general viewership.
shareI think this film is more grounded and less Hollywood. I like Micheal Collins and would recommend it to anyone looking to get into Irish history of that period and it was directed/written by a Irish man. But I just prefer the feel of Barley, also Cillian Murphy is fantastic in it. And it packs more of a punch.
share