| In the Name of the Father | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jim Sheridan |
| Screenplay by |
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| Based on | Proved Innocent: The Story of Gerry Conlon of the Guildford Four 1991 autobiography byGerry Conlon |
| Produced by | Jim Sheridan |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Peter Biziou |
| Edited by | Gerry Hambling |
| Music by | Trevor Jones |
Production company | Hell's Kitchen Films |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures (throughUnited International Pictures) |
Release dates |
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Running time | 133 minutes |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Budget | $13 million[citation needed] |
| Box office | $65.8 million[1] |
In the Name of the Father is a 1993biographicalcrime drama film directed byJim Sheridan, and written by Sheridan andTerry George, based on the 1990 autobiographyProved Innocent byGerry Conlon. A co-production betweenIreland and theUnited Kingdom, it tells the story of theGuildford Four, four people falsely convicted of the 1974Guildford pub bombings that killed four off-duty British soldiers and a civilian.
The film received positive reviews from critics and grossed $65.8 million at the box office against a $13 million budget. It was nominated for seven Oscars at the66th Academy Awards, includingBest Actor (Daniel Day-Lewis),Best Supporting Actor (Pete Postlethwaite),Best Supporting Actress (Emma Thompson),Best Director, andBest Picture.
InBelfast,Gerry Conlon is mistaken for anIRAsniper by British security forces and pursued until ariot breaks out. Gerry is sent toLondon by his father Giuseppe to discourage an IRA reprisal against him.
One evening, Gerry burgles a prostitute's flat and steals £700. While he is taking drugs in a park with his friend Paul Hill, alongside homeless Irishman Charlie Burke,an explosion in Guildford occurs, killing four off-duty soldiers and a civilian, as well as injuring sixty-five others. Returning to Belfast sometime later, Gerry is captured by theBritish Army andRoyal Ulster Constabulary and arrested on terrorism charges.
Gerry is flown to England, where he and his friend Paul together with two others are dubbed theGuildford Four and are subjected to police torture as part oftheir interrogation.
Gerry maintains his innocence, but signs aconfession after the police threaten to kill his father, who is later arrested along with other members of the Conlon family, later dubbed theMaguire Seven. At his trial, although Gerry's defence points out numerous inconsistencies in the police investigation, he, along with the rest of the Guildford Four and Maguire Seven, are sentenced to life imprisonment.
During their time in prison, Gerry and Giuseppe are approached by new inmate Joe McAndrew, who informs them that he was the real perpetrator of the bombing and had confessed this to the police. The police, in order to save face, withheld this new information.
Though Gerry warms to Joe, his opinion changes when Joe sets a hated prison guard on fire during a riot. Giuseppe later dies in custody fromtuberculosis, leaving Gerry to take over his father's campaign for justice.
Giuseppe's lawyerGareth Peirce, who had been investigating the case on Giuseppe's behalf, discovers vital evidence related to Gerry's original alibi with a note attached that reads: "Not to be shown to the defence." Through a statement made by Charlie Burke, at a court appeal, it totally exonerates Gerry and the rest.
The film ends with the current activities of the wrongly accused being given, and also by stating that the police who investigated the case were never prosecuted for any wrongdoing, and that Giuseppe is buried inMilltown Cemetery in Belfast. The real perpetrators of the Guildford Bombing have, to this day, not been charged with the crimes.
To prepare for the role of Gerry Conlon, Day-Lewis lost over 23 kilograms (50 lb) in weight. To gain an insight into Conlon's thoughts and feelings at the time, Day-Lewis also spent three days and nights in a jail cell. He was prevented from sleeping by a group of thugs, who would bang on the door every ten minutes with tin cups through the night, then he was interrogated by three different teams of real Special Branch officers for nine hours. He would also insist that crew members throw cold water at him and verbally abuse him. He also kept his Belfast accent on and off set.
Day-Lewis has stated in an interview that he went through all this because otherwise "How could I understand how an innocent man could sign that confession and destroy his own life."[2][3]
The film was shot primarily inIreland.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [4] |
| Billboard | (favorable)[5] |
| Music Week | [6] |
The soundtrack of the film includes the song "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart", performed bySinéad O'Connor and written byBono,Gavin Friday, andMaurice Seezer. The soundtrack also includes "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)" performed byThe Jimi Hendrix Experience. However, theBob Dylan Song "Like a Rolling Stone" was not included on the album due to licensing restrictions.
The soundtrack featured these songs:
The film received very positive reviews from most critics. The review aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 94% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. The site's consensus states: "Impassioned and meticulously observed,In the Name of the Father mines rousing drama from a factual miscarriage of justice, aided by scorching performances and director Jim Sheridan's humanist focus."[7] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 84 out of 100 based on 16 reviews indicating "universal acclaim".[8] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[9]
The film was the second highest-grossing ever in Ireland (behindJurassic Park), and the highest-grossing Irish film, beating the record set byThe Commitments in 1991, with a gross ofIR£2.91 million ($4.5 million).[10][11]
Upon its release, the film proved controversial for some historical inaccuracies and for fictionalising parts of the story. Jim Sheridan defended his choices in 2003, stating: "I was accused of lying inIn the Name of the Father, but the real lie was saying it was a film about the Guildford Four when really it was about a non-violent parent."[16] In the film Gerry and his father Giuseppe (in the closing credits,as well as in the English subtitles, the name is misspelled "Guiseppe") share a cell, but this never took place; they were usually kept in separate prisons. The real perpetrators of the Guildford pub bombings were the IRA'sBalcombe Street Gang, who admitted to the Guildford andWoolwich bombings during their trials, rather than the fictional character of Joe McAndrew. The courtroom scenes featuring Gareth Peirce were also heavily criticised as clearly straying from recorded events and established English legal practices since, as asolicitor and not abarrister, she would not have been able to appear in court at the time. Furthermore, Peirce did not represent Giuseppe Conlon. Investigative journalistDavid Pallister wrote: "The myriad absurdities in the court scenes, straight out ofLA Law, are inexcusable."[17]
In a 1994 radio interview, Anne Maguire, a member of The Maguire Seven who, along with her husband, brother and two young sons, went to prison because of the false confessions of her nephew Gerry Conlon and Paul Hill, revealed her lingering anger and bitterness at the pair for wrongly incriminating them, as well as her dismay at the film for, in her view, depicting Conlon as a hero. (She and her family were all officially exonerated by the British government in 1991.) She also criticised director Jim Sheridan for, as she claims, never reaching out to her or her family for their side of the story, and sharply castigated the film for alleged inaccuracies, including a scene showing Conlon and Hill visiting her prior to their arrests, as she adamantly maintains that Hill never once set foot in her home—a key point in her defence at trial.[18]
