Review of an Awful Hate-filled Movie
Having just sat through this nonsense, I thought I'd comment on the film. So first I'd have to say that this "film" adds absolutely no insight into the current religious, political or sectarian debate. It's nothing more than hateful one-sided shallow minded bigotry. To tell the truth - I doubt if it's even one sided because the one side it apparently represents would be ashamed of it.
The acting is deplorable, the accents diabolical and the "action" scenes are so farcical it's actually quite sad. Damien Chapa's attempt at a Northern Ireland accent is so funny it hurts and can only be compared to Dick Van Dykes cockney accent in Mary Poppins. It seems like the writers of the film know a few place names and decided to put them in the movie because either they were too lazy to do any real research or they were plainly stupid.
As an example, at the start of the movie the Damien Chapa character and his friend take a bike ride into the Shankill area from the Falls area. It all starts well and good as the pair head along Lanark way (a road most local people get a touch nervous on in a car, never mind a bicycle). As they travel along this road which leads directly onto the shankill they are somehow whisked through a teleport system to Sandy Row which isn't connected to the Shankil Road and which is about 2 or 3 miles from Lanark way in the South of the city (Shankill is half North, half West of the city, Falls is West). Another quick example is how he gets to Southern Ireland. Instead of a 2 1/2 hour drive across the border by any number of routes and down to Bray. He goes via ferry to Scotland, then..... well.... I can only wish he'd came to his senses and returned by ferry and took the 2 1/2 hour drive. But as we see him on a train, I assume he headed south through England then west through Wales to Holyhead and got the ferry back to Dublin in a round trip which would be in excess of 16 hours or more .....I mean...WTF. Check that *beep* out on a map.. seriously.
As for the costume department. Have these people even seen the news. With all the coverage of the troubles here, and the few wars Britain has taken part in, you'd think they would at least know what the British army uniform looks like. Apparently not! It looks like the costume department has headed for the local army surplus clothing store, bought three combat jackets, and then run out of money. YES... THEY ARE THAT BAD!!!! The few police uniforms I seen looked more like the Gardai than the RUC/PSNI.
The terrible acting was evident from the very first scene, I hoped it would improve, I was wrong, It went downhill from there. Practically EVERY actor and actress in this film is awful, Damien Chapa being the worst and as for the acting talents of Joe Estevez. I can see where Charlie Sheen and Emilio get their non talent from.
This film in general belongs in the dustbin. As a piece of advice - Download it from the internet and watch it, that way you won't waste your hard-earned money. I don't say that lightly because I strongly believe that the people in the movie industry should be rewarded for their talent. But there is absolutely none of that in any way, shape or form in this film and to expect people to pay for this nonsense is atrocious. This is a very bad propaganda film that even C.I.R.A would be embarrased about. Give it a VERY WIDE BERTH.
A low budget is no excuse for this rubbish. I can think of many many low budget films that have been outstanding and probably were better off for having the low budget. There are extremely superior films out there about Northern Irelands situation, although none will ever really tell the entire truth or show the events as they truly are or were, and none will ever really be totally impartial. But none, and I mean NONE will EVER be as wide of the mark as this film.
(I have no interest in joining in any anti Irish or anti British debates. I live in an area of Belfast close to the Shankill and Falls and have seen the aftermath of a terrorist bomb and the carnage it leaves. I promise you - It is far from glorious and heroic when you have to watch a mangled child pulled from rubble. Any film maker that promotes or glorifies any form of terrorism as something that is good should, in my opinion, be charged with incitement to racial hatred and promoting terrorism and none more than the makers of this "film").