| Five Minutes of Heaven | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster | |
| Directed by | Oliver Hirschbiegel |
| Written by | Guy Hibbert |
| Produced by | Eoin O'Callaghan Stephen Wright |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Ruairi O'Brien |
| Edited by | Hans Funck |
| Music by | David Holmes |
Production companies | Big Fish Films Element Pictures Ruby Films |
| Distributed by | BBC Television (United Kingdom) IFC Films (United States) Pathé (worldwide) |
Release dates |
|
Running time | 90 minutes |
| Countries | United Kingdom Ireland |
| Languages | English Irish |
| Box office | $87,906[1] |
Five Minutes of Heaven is a 2009 film directed byOliver Hirschbiegel from a script byGuy Hibbert. The film premiered on 19 January 2009 at the25th Sundance Film Festival[2] where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award for Hirschbiegel, and the World Cinema Screenwriting Award for Hibbert.[3] As atelevision film it was broadcast onBBC Two on 5 April 2009, and also had an internationalfeature film release.
The first part reconstructs the historical killing of 19-year-old Jim Griffin by 17-year-old Alistair Little in 1975, and the second part depicts a fictional meeting between Little and Griffin's brother Joe 33 years later.
InLurgan,Northern Ireland, during 1975 and the Northern IrishTroubles, theIrish Republican Army are targetingloyalists; in turn, the loyalistUlster Volunteer Force are exacting revenge on Catholics they claim are militantrepublicans. Alistair Little, 17, is the leader of a UVF cell, eager to let blood. He and his gang are given the go-ahead to kill a young Catholic man, James Griffin, as a reprisal and a warning to others. When they kill Griffin, his 8-year old little brother, Joe watches in horror. Little is arrested and sentenced to prison for 12 years.
In 2008—thirty-three years after the murder and nineteen years after Little is released from prison—Little and Joe Griffin have been set up to meet on camera by a reconciliation project. Little has served his sentence andpeace has been agreed to in Northern Ireland, but Joe Griffin is not coming on the programme for a handshake. He is carrying a knife and intends to murder his brother's killer during the meeting. However, just before he is to go on camera, he becomes extremely agitated and demands that the cameras be removed. When the producers try to calm him, he leaves, and the two men do not meet.
Little offers to meet Griffin, and Griffin accepts. Griffin asks Little to meet him at Griffin's childhood home, now abandoned and boarded up, where Little murdered his brother. As Griffin reaches for the knife before the meeting, his wife tries to stop him, but he pushes her to the floor. At the meeting, Griffin, full of hate and wanting vengeance, attacks Little from behind and attempts to stab him. In the struggle, they fall through a second story window. Both are hurt. Little tells Griffin that he is leaving forBelfast. He explains why he killed Griffin's brother. He tells Griffin to "get rid of me", to tell his family that he has killed Little and to live his life for them, not for vengeance.
Griffin very shakily lights up a cigarette as Little pulls himself from the wall he was sitting against and limps down the road. Soon after, Griffin attends a therapy group and tells them, crying, that he wants to be a good father for his daughters. He calls Little and tells him, "We're finished." Little appears happy and befuddled, not quite sure what to do next.
(in order of appearance)
Five Minutes of Heaven was originally commissioned byBBC Four, as Hibbert did not want television executives to interfere with the script. BBC Four abandoned the project when they could not provide a bigger budget. To get more money for the film, independent production company Big Fish Films brought in other financial backers, including Northern Ireland Screen, and the film was eventually commissioned by Controller ofBBC Two Roly Keating, and BBC Controller of FictionJane Tranter.[4][5]
Filming took place on location inBelfast,Dundonald,Lurgan,Glenarm andNewtownards for four weeks from May to June 2008.[5][6][7] Nesbitt met Griffin before filming began but Neeson decided to wait until after it had concluded before meeting Little; he said "I didn't want to see him before because I didn't want to be reminded of the physical differences between us and I didn't want to get that cluttered up in my head."[7][8]
This was also the first time that two of Northern Ireland's top actors,Liam Neeson andJames Nesbitt, had starred in a film together.
Five Minutes of Heaven premiered at the2009 Sundance Film Festival on 19 January 2009. It won in the World Cinema Directed Award: Dramatic, and World Cinema Screenwriting Award categories.[9] It received its Irish premiere at the 2009Jameson Dublin International Film Festival on 21 February 2009.[8] A screening was given by theBritish Academy of Film and Television Arts in London on 23 March 2009. It was followed by a question-and-answer session with Hirschbiegel, Hibbert and Nesbitt.[10] It was broadcast on BBC Two in England, Scotland and Wales on 5 April 2009 and onBBC One Northern Ireland on 13 April.[11]Pathé holds worldwide theatrical distribution rights.[12]
IFC Films signed a deal to distribute the film in the United States from August 2009, theatrically, through itsvideo on demand service, and exclusively throughBlockbuster retailers.[13] The film opened at theAngelika Film Center in New York on 21 August 2009.[14] It took $5,200 in box office receipts on its first weekend.[15]
The film received positive reviews from film critics. As of June 2020[update], the film holds a 75% approval rating on review aggregation websiteRotten Tomatoes, based on 44 reviews with an average rating of 6.56 out of 10. The website's critics consensus reads: "Oliver Hirschbiegel's dramatic take on "The Troubles" is an actor's showcase—and Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt are more than up to the challenge."[16] The film also won theChristopher Ewart-Biggs Memorial Prize.
AfterFive Minutes of Heaven's Sundance screenings, Kirk Honeycutt ofThe Hollywood Reporter called it "very good at stating the obvious but fails to bring new insight to this age-old morality tale". He cited the scenes featuring Mark Davison (as the young Little) andAnamaria Marinca (as a television producer) as "the only time the movie sparks to life".[17] Dennis Harvey forVariety was complimentary of Hibbert's screenplay and of Neeson's acting.[12]
Padraic Geoghegan ofRTÉ Entertainment criticized the lack of screen-time given to Griffin's family, and for not showing how Little came to be helping others like him in the present-day scenes. Geoghegan praised the flashback scenes, Hirschbeigel's direction, and Neeson and Nesbitt's acting.[18]The Irish Times' Michael Dwyer rated the film four out of five stars. Of the acting, he wrote,
Nesbitt vividly portrays Griffin as a man still coiled with rage and horror by indelible memories of a living nightmare when he was a boy. And Neeson’s haunted features reveal the guilt and pain Little has carried since he committed his terrible crime.[19]
Andrew Johnston for Culture Northern Ireland wrote,
Unlike some other Ulster-set pictures,Five Minutes of Heaven presents real people with real emotions, rather than political caricatures or slavish impersonations. There’s a slight sense that most of the budget went on securing Neeson, but the minimalist soundtrack, grotty colour scheme and amateurish fight scenes help underline the emptiness of the lead characters and the desolation of their predicament.[20]
| Year | Award | Category | Nominee | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Sundance Film Festival | World Cinema, Directed: Dramatic | Oliver Hirschbiegel | Won[9] |
| World Cinema, Screenwriting | Guy Hibbert | Won[9] | ||
| Grand Jury Prize | Oliver Hirschbiegel | Nominated[9] | ||
| 2010 | Irish Film and Television Academy Awards | Single Drama/Drama Serial | Eoin O'Callaghan | Won[21] |
| Actor in a Lead Role: Television | Liam Neeson | Nominated[21] | ||
| Director of Photography | Ruairí O'Brien | Nominated[21] | ||
| Royal Television Society Programme Awards | Best Single Drama | Five Minutes of Heaven | Won[22] | |
| Best Writer (Drama) | Guy Hibbert | Nominated[22] | ||
| Broadcasting Press Guild Awards | Best Single Drama | Five Minutes of Heaven | Nominated[23] | |
| Best Actor | James Nesbitt | Nominated[24] | ||
| British Academy Television Craft Awards | Writer | Guy Hibbert | Won[25] | |
| British Academy Television Awards | Best Single Drama | Guy Hibbert, Oliver Hirschbiegel, Eoin O'Callaghan, Stephen Wright | Nominated[26] |
WORLD CINEMA DIRECTING AWARD: DRAMATIC
"Five Minutes of Heaven," directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel from a screenplay by Guy Hibbert
WORLD CINEMA SCREENWRITING AWARD
"Five Minutes of Heaven," directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel from a screenplay by Guy Hibbert
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
