Review of Five Minutes of Heaven (2009) by Edwin A — 28 Jul 2009

Five Minutes of Heaven is the third new film about the Irish Struggles I've seen in the last year. It might seem tiring at this point, but each are drastically different. By far the best of the three is British visual artist Steve McQueen's Hunger - a relentless and almost wordless art film that dives head first into notorious Long Kesh Prison to document IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands and other inmates (I thought it was the best film of 2008, and by far made the biggest impression on me). Next was the massively disappointing Fifty Dead Men Walking, a noble but messy and confused film about a Irishman working with the British to take down the IRA. And now Five Minutes of Heaven. It's the most humane of the three films.

The film begins in 1970s Northern Ireland. A teenager, Alastair Little has asked to kill a Catholic to do his part for the UVF (Ulster Volunteer Forces). He's given Jim Griffin. He arrives at the home, masked and armed, and fires three shots through the front window into Jim's head. Witness to the murder is Jim's young brother, Joe. His family falls apart after Jim's death and his mother blames him for doing nothing to stop the assassin.

Flash forward to present time. A television show has arranged for Joe to confront Alastair for a program about reconciliation. Greeted with the possibility of finally facing his brother's killer, Joe has to decide if he should shake the mans hand or plunge a knife into his body. That is the basic premise that carries the film about three quarters of the way.

Five Minutes of Heaven approaches this query with seriousness and patience. The film mostly focuses on Joe and his desire for revenge - his 'five minutes of heaven.' Joe muses in his mind his questions and worries and conflicts, then all of a sudden blurts them out. He's plaid by James Nesbitt with such tension and wracked nerves that the character feels as if he might implode. Externally he continues to joke with the most of the crew and seems cordially nervous, while internally he screams and squirms.

Liam Neeson plays Alistair Little, in another very fine performance. As an adult, he is remorseful and genuinely wants to help Joe relieve himself of the pain he's suffering. Writer Guy Hibbert and director Oliver Hirschbiegel use an interesting strategy for slowly revealing Alastair's true character nature. We first see the adult Alastair and Joe both in the back of separate cars on the way to the meeting. Alastair seems better dressed, more coolly detached and relaxed, hinting that maybe he's done quite well for himself since then, and is perhaps even somewhat smug. He speaks about the murder calmly, and even goes so far as to say if he realized it was Jim's brother watching him he would have shot him too. We're shown him exactly the way Joe Griffin sees him in his mind, and what he thinks he must be like. Slowly the filmmakers and Neeson begin to unravel his character - he's remorseful, feels his position as a councilor and mediator to others who were like him as a sham, unable to even forgive himself. His home is cold, empty, and lonely. Almost the exact opposite is done with Joe, accentuating how the past has harmed him to the point of obsession, not allowing him to accept the good in his life.

Five Minutes of Heaven is a smart and poignant film about accepting and giving forgiveness. Joe is a man who has every right to be angry, and even though he doesn't have the right to kill Alastair, he certainly has all the necessary reasons. That's what makes his choice all the more difficult.

The film is not without problems, however. It's not a long film (running about 85 minutes) but there are a few scenes that felt unnecessary, and a meeting between the two at the end that feels a bit too forced and even a bit too Hollywood in what is otherwise a very well paced and labored film. But even then its shot well, it just didn't feel right to me. Nevertheless it's an intelligent and thoughtful film. Nesbitt and Neeson deliver two brilliant performances, worthy of Academy nods. It's a poignant film that asks us to tune out our impluses for revenge, and stop the cycle of violence by making the great sacrifice of forgiveness.