Review of In the Name of the Father (1993) by Tomas T — 18 Nov 2012

In the Name of the Father tells a true story of Gerry Conlon, an Irish man who was sentenced to prison in 1970s for IRA bombing he did not commit. The film is a bleak and depressing reminder how even modern day Western Democracy can commit conscious human right atrocities when facing crisis.

I rarely depend on quoting film lines, but to summarize In the Name of the Father it feels appropriate; as Gerry states after his farce trial: "Our case was so insane that if you made it up, nobody would believe it". Yet Gerry Conlyn (Daniel Day-Lewis) was sentenced for life in prison by British court along with most of his family(!) and other unfortunate side standers. Even more amazingly Gerry and the rest were sentenced to prison largely based on shoddy evidence and confessions extracted with torture techniques(!). Sounds unbelievable and yet Gerry's story is true.

As mind boggling from human's right perspective as Gerry's imprisonment part is, the film does contain a more warm and positive side to it in form of father-son reunion. Gerry and his father Giuseppe Conlon (Pete Postlethwaite) forge a strong bond and put aside their difficult past in order to survive their unfair imprisonment. These scenes contain some of the best acting ever from Daniel Day-Lewis where he fully throws himself into the role and portrays the emotional chaos Gerry goes through during his imprisonment.

Still the film was not quite as involving as I'd hoped it to be. The acting and story definitely deserve praise, but like with director Jim Sheridan's other famous tittle, The Boxer, I could not fully immerse myself totally in the film. Perhaps it is Sheridan's brutally bleak directing and story telling which keeps me somewhat detached from the film and characters. Even so In the Name of the Father is technically excellent biography film, no question about that, and proves yet again Daniel Day-Lewis' unquestionable talent for acting.