Michael Collins
1996Director: Neil Jordan
As Eamon De Valera, Alan Rickman deftly pockets each scene he graces.
The Economist, Nov 9, 1996.
Reviews by:Eyes photo courtesy of Joy, small photos courtesy of Suzanne. After the Reviews, please enjoy Stezi's capture album.
Fausta thanks Beverly, Dianne, Renie and Shelly for their reviews, and Joy, Suzanne and Stezi for the photos
Michael Collins is widely available in VHS, PAL and DVD for rental or purchase
Reviewed by Beverly, April 16, 1998
Overall rating = 3 hands
Rickmaniac rating = 4 hands, because I was biased from the beginning
In order to review this film I consulted a book on Irish history. Eamon De Valera, born in New York City in 1882 to a Spanish father and Irish mother, was Prime Minister of Ireland from 1937-1948, 1951-54, and 1957-59, and President of Ireland from 1959-73. He was a math teacher before entering politics. He married in 1910 and had 5 sons and 2 daughters. He died in 1975. That is never mentioned in the movie.
De Valera’s photograph shows he had a great hawk-like nose and narrow-set eyes behind steel-rimmed glasses. The make-up artist (Morag Ross, that lucky duck) is the same who worked on Sense and Sensibility". All she had to do was put a pair of steel-rimmed glasses on Mr. Rickman, plaster down his hair, and voila!, Eamon De Valera.
The film Michael Collins starts in 1916 with the Easter Rising – there were 700 years of Irish history and conflict before that event, so I felt like I had walked in at the middle of a story and everybody knew what’s going on but me. Irish history and English politics are hard to nail down in a 2-hour film. (I used to be an Anglophile until I saw these new anti-Brit films – Rob Roy, Braveheart, and Michael Collins). Being a product of American public schools, the only history I got was U. S. History, and that ended after the Civil War. Really – I don’t know what happened after 1865!
Throughout the whole film I had difficulty telling the "good guys" from the "bad guys" because they all looked alike. There were a lot of surreptitious looks among characters in overcoats, secret service agents, G-men, informants. The military wore dusty olive uniforms. Chamber pots were dumped on armored tanks with soldiers shooting back at the dumpers. I never knew who was shooting who. Ned Brody, a G-man who starts out tailing Mick and friends, soon relents and lets them into his storeroom full of secret files. Ned gets his comeuppance when he is tortured and strung up by "one of his own". Even poor Harry, a good friend and cohort of Michael Collins, was shot by "one of his own". Mick does his share of being invisible – he cadges a light from Mr. Soames, head of the Secret Service, who is trying to find him.
There is a great deal of violence in this film; very little character development. You don’t know the history of the main actors -- nothing about their families, childhoods, connections with the past. Even Dev’s wife and 7 kids are never mentioned. I find it hard to develop an attachment to characters if they are one-dimensional.
Most of the film is shot through haze, dust, flames, broken window panes, darkness, or rain with strange blue light. It must have been a cameraman’s nighmare. In the scene where the Customs House is attacked, there is something floating in the air that looks like snow, confetti or feathers.
The most charming scene with Mr. Rickman is one where he is in Lincoln Jail, assisting a priest saying Mass. The pious look on his face is priceless. As the priest is extolling Dev’s virtue, Dev is busy making an impression of the prison key in the candle (the history book said he was smuggled a hey inside a cake). I noticed Mr. Rickman is the one you watch when there are other actors in the scene. His precise manner of speaking – almost a lisp – and measured words hold your attention. However, he is capable of delivering a fiery speech to a crowd when necessary.
Julia Roberts’s role (Kitty) could have been phoned in. She was especially unattractive in this film, with a frumpy hair style and not much expression. The only romance takes place when Mick sat through the night with her while his henchmen went on an all-night killing spree. Kitty and Mick spent the night comparing the killings to delivering flowers and Valentines. Apparently they reason he moved her to another hotel and stayed with her was so his thugs wouldn’t kill her by mistake.
The final scenes were especially touching: Kitty is trying on her wedding dress. Background music is Sinead O’Connor’s "She Moved Through The Fair". Mick is being set up to be ambushed and executed en route to West Cork, his hometown. Another thing that puzzled me – Was Dev in cahoots with the ambushers? Who is that young man hanging around the stable? And why was Dev sleeping in the stable? Did Dev put him up to the shooting? Because of the informants, terse conversations, double-crossers, and secret service, I kept thinking, "What’s going on here?"
The funeral scenes at the end are authentic footage of Michael Collins’s funeral.
Reviewed by Dianne, 24 April, 1998
Overall rating: 5 hands
Rickmaniac rating: 4 hands
Synopsis: The story of Ireland's attempt to overcome oppressive British rule and set up a Republic.
Background: As a lesson in recent Irish history this film tries hard to be faithful to events, but fails where scenes have been beefed up for dramatic effect (e.g., the massacre at the football match). Director Neil Jordan battled for over 10 years to get this project off the ground and it is obviously a labour of love.
The cast are impressive particularly Neeson, Rickman, Rea and Quinn, with the only disappointment being Julia Roberts and the inadequacies of her Irish accent.
Rickman is outstanding as Eamon de Valera and must have researched the role extensively. In fact the likeness and attention to detail are wonderful. His is a strong and dominant performance. Even in scenes with Neeson (normally a scene-stealer himself) it is Rickman who holds your attention. Note the scene where Neeson and Rickman are discussing the terms of the treaty, which have been negotiated with the British - Rickman's reactions and hands are wonderful. There is also the characteristic humour injection as Rickman discretely takes a copy of the keys during communion in Lincoln jail and the jailbreak with Rickman dresses up in fur coat, high heels and a hat! It is a very brave performance. Rickman's first scene on set was an historic and emotional speech to a crowd of 3000 unpaid Irish extras without rehearsal - What a guy!
Whether de Valera was instrumental in Michael Collins' death will never be known. However the film is educational (a British force of occupation was certainly not always very pleasant to the locals) and despite the controversial subject matter, very enlightening.
Reviewed by Renie, 7 May, 1998
Overall rating: 3 hands
Rickmaniac Rating: 3 hands
Synopsis: Rickman and Liam Neeson, with some Stephen Rea, in the trials of Ireland.
Done in epic-style, much on location, with full soundtrack, production value and extras. The parts add up to satisfying, though not epic, enjoyment. A well-cast Neeson portrays "the big fella" Michael Collins, who fights with the British government and his own boss over the establishment of the People's Republic of Ireland. Collins loses both fights, and lots of lads kill and get killed in the attempt to bring peace to the Irish people. Love interest Kitty (Julia Roberts) is loved by two men (Collins and best friend Harry Boland, a.k.a. Aidan Quinn) -- they can have her. I'll take Dev.
"Dev" is Collins' "Chief"--Eamon De Valera, who has specific (and different) ideas about how you go about the fight. It's done just so, and without resorting to guerrilla tactics. As Dev, Rickman is an imposing authority figure--all spectacles and high firm nose and power. You know Dev is genuine in his fight for Ireland, but you aren't sure who, or what he's going to sacrifice to get it. Rickman's performance here is another of his "subverted" brand, and the type at which, however few the lines, he excels. Is Dev heartfelt when he storms out of the treaty ratification vote, or is he posturing? All politicians are actors, and Dev keeps us guessing. It's hard to believe that Jordan didn't have Rickman in mind from the start.
You get a range of Rickman's abilities in bits. When he is writing from prison and "speaks" the letter--a strong delivery; listen to the words, "by ignoring it." Later, his talent for hoodwinking a priest--check out expressions in that "key" scene. And even for humour--the way he hisses, "That's no excuse for obscenities!" and is dressed in lady's hat and--well, I won't spoil it. And then there's playing to the millions -- a speech -- acted in front of real folks -- on "wading through Irish blood" that Rickman was somewhat nervous about. He needn't have worried.
Jammed in between some bloody scenes (not without point, however) are also scenes where Neeson and Rickman explore (too briefly!) the complex dynamic between these two men. When Collins begs Dev not to order Boland away on business, Collins asserts, of the ongoing fight, "I can't do it without him". Rickman is spinning a bicycle wheel around in his hand, and answers, in those Rickman cadences, "You could do it without me." Even more intense, though less subtle, is Dev's chastisement of Collins for the terms of the treaty. Rickman can either walk or tear around a room like nobody's business, and no one handles the back of a chair like he does . . . .
The director tried to do a lot, not all of it successfully. The love story, for me, was worse than beside the point. Okay, so I'm not a fan of Julia Roberts. It just seemed like the required romance from the studio front office, even though in this case, it wasn't. Sinead O'Connor's signing, designed to be haunting, was welcome. I found Stephen Rea excellent.
However, on repeated viewings, a Rickmaniac may find that the history and love story have been fully digested the first time around. Although Rickman's nuances and performance will continue to interest, you may not want to watch it innumerable times, like Truly, Madly, Deeply and Sense & Sensibility.
Reviewed by Shelly, August, 1998
Overall Rating = 3-1/2 hands
Rickmaniac Rating = 2 hands
Alan Rickman portrays Eamon de Valera, the political leader of the IRA. He is affectionately referred to as "Dev" by his compatriots. While Collins is the man of action, advocating the use of violence to achieve their goals, de Valera argues for the use of more traditional means. These ideological differences eventually cause discord between the two friends. Rickman, giving his usual superb performance, portrays de Valera as an intellectual man of rhetoric, with restrained, almost effeminate mannerisms.
I gave the film an overall rating of three and a half hands; I thought it was a good movie, with good acting, but I never felt completely drawn into the story on an emotional level. I gave it a Rickmaniac rating of two hands. Even though Mr. Rickman is outstanding in this movie, and I thoroughly enjoyed seeing him portray this historical person, the role is relatively small. Even so, his ability and range as an actor are once again showcased, and we are left with even more respect for his talents.
My heartfelt thanks to Stezi, who sent a full album of Michael Collins captures.
Enjoy!
