Review of In the Name of the Father (1993) by John C — 02 Mar 2015

A brilliant masterpiece about an injustic done to the colon family back in the early 1974 when the english police falsley accused gerry colon , several members of his family and three other idividuals who happen to live near by the bombing of a british pub that was labelled The Guilford Four. A group named for a terroorist who were carving havoc among london. All Gery wanted to do was to impress his father but always ended up disappointing him. So his father who loves Gerry like no other son decides to send him to london for a different pace of change and hopefull for a better life. He meets up with an old friend named Paul Hill and they decide to smoke up and get high with a bunch of vegetarians. One day a pub explodes and five people are killed. The police interogates one man who knew of Gerry and never liekd him and accuses him as the ring leader. Paul Hill and two other people are arested and detained for more than a few days while the police can do anything like torture or threaten their lives and their loved ones so they can fess up to the horrible crimes. When Gerry is arrested in his home of iIreland, his father will do anything to get him back home and will to be arrested for being a conspirator. After a few days of threats and beatings Paul Hill named Gerry as the leader and Gerry caves in especially after they threten to kill his father. They go to court and end up in going to prison for more than a decade.

While imprisoned, Guiseppe tries to do whatever he can to convince his son that he is better than most people and should learn to respect himself instead of having drinks or smokes with the other inmates. Like all sons, at one point or another tend to rebel against their fathers and ignore them. Unfortunaly Gerry also felt he was never good enough for his father and has always had a heart for him. When Gerry finds out from a fellow inmate that he and his father were falsley accused for no good reason at all and that the real terrorist behind the bomibin of the pub was one of their fellow inmates, Gerry decides to seek out help from an attorney named Gareth Peirce. All he wants is to get his father out of prison and their names back. In the end, thanks to their lawyer who found a slip of paper saying dont show to the courts, Paul hill, Gerry colon and the toehr two who have spent fifteen years in jail were found not guilty and that the english police knew about it and were too ashamed that they got the wrong people just to save their careers.

This film is one of the best films ever made about judicial system and their injustices and about police brutality and the spirit of one man to survive a life of heart break and to come out in the end feeling stronger than before. It is also a love story between father and son and how the bond between the two saved them from losing their minds and gave them hope.

The film is beautifully acted with daniel day lewis giving his greatest performance of his career and established Pete Postelewait who plays Guiseppe an actor worth looking at. These two actros and their ineractions made the son and father relationship comes so alive on the screen as if the characters they played were real and like one of our own. Emma Thompson also give strong support as a lawyer determined to get Gerry and his father out of prison and to give them hope that they wont end up in there for their rest of their lives. Emma thomspn and Danuiel day lewis have great chemistry between them.

This is the second of three films that actor daniel day lewis did for irisj director Jim sherridan who would do my left foot and the boxer respectivly and screenwriter Terry george. Based on Gerry Colon's autobigraphy).

It is a definte crowd pleaser with a heart breaking and brilliant story that will deeply move you to the core and a great soundtrack with Bono of U2 fame producing the album.

NOT TO BE MISSED.

One of my favorites.