Some Mother's Son (1996)

Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a British prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as ... See full summary »

Director:

Terry George

Writers:

Terry George, Jim Sheridan

Stars:

Helen Mirren, Fionnula Flanagan, Aidan Gillen

4 wins.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Helen Mirren	...	Kathleen Quigley
Fionnula Flanagan	...	Annie Higgins
Aidan Gillen	...	Gerard Quigley
David O'Hara	...	Frank Higgins
John Lynch	...	Bobby Sands
Tom Hollander	...	Farnsworth
Tim Woodward	...	Harrington
Ciarán Hinds	...	Danny Boyle
Geraldine O'Rawe	...	Alice Quigley
Gerard McSorley	...	Fr. Daly
Dan Gordon	...	Inspector McPeake
Grainne Delany	...	Theresa Higgins
Ciarán Fitzgerald	...	Liam Quigley
Robert Lang	...	Government Minister
Stephen Hogan	...	Young Turk

Storyline

Based on the true story of the 1981 hunger strike in a British prison, in which IRA prisoner Bobby Sands led a protest against the treatment of IRA prisoners as criminals rather than as prisoners of war. The film focuses on the mothers of two of the strikers, and their struggle to save the lives of their sons.

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Plot Keywords:

british | strike | hunger strike | prisoner of war | british prison | 

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Taglines:

Between love and loyalty... Between life and death... Lies a choice no mother should have to make.

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Genres:

Drama | History

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language and some political violence and suffering

Details

Country:

Ireland USA

Language:

English Irish

Release Date:

25 December 1996 (USA)

Also Known As:

Sons and Warriors

Filming Locations:

Skerries, Fingal, County Dublin, Ireland

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$114,309 (USA) (27 December 1996)

Gross:

$608,032 (USA) (7 February 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Castle Rock Entertainment, Hell's Kitchen Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Character actor Robert Lang was reunited on screen in this film opposite Helen Mirren nearly 25 years after portraying her father in Savage Messiah by Ken Russell.

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Goofs

Outside the prison you can clearly see an Austin Metro Mk2 which was not released till late 1984. This film is based in 1981.

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Quotes

Farnsworth: We want to make the prisons an asset, not a liability. It is in the prisons that we will break the backs of the IRA.

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Connections

Version of The Rising of the Moon (2002)

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Soundtracks

"Star of Desire"
Composed by Scott Wooldridge & Brian Wooldridge
Performed by The Wooldridge Bros.
Courtesy of Windswept Pacific Entertainment and Don't Records

User Reviews

Infactual , Polemical , But What`d You Expect ?

SOME MOTHER`S SON starts with some archive video of Magaret Thatcher making a speech after winning the 1979 British general election followed by a sequence of British government officials getting together with one of them saying " The rules < On Northern Ireland and terrorism have changed > have changed , the policy is now isolation , criminalization and demoralization " . This is a very strange thing to say about the situation in Northern Ireland in 1979 since despite the change in government there was no change in policy . The IRA were making a grand job isolating themselves from the mainstream nationalist community throughout the 1970s with incidents like " Bloody Friday " which were killing and maiming as many catholics as protestants . Criminalization ? Well the IRA have always been outlawed on both sides of the border since partition in 1922 , oh and convicted terrorists , loyalisist or republican , lost all political status in 1976 . Anyone found convicted of terrorist convictions after March 1976 was no longer eligible for political status within the Northern Ireland prison system . This was introduced by the Labour government`s Northern Ireland secetary Merlyn Rees not as insinuated here Thatcher`s Conservative government . As for demoralization the Provisional IRA were very much demoralized before Thatcher came into government . By 1975 they realised unification with the South wasn`t going to happen , had become embroiled in fueds with the Official IRA and loyalist terror groups while most of their members had been killed or imprisoned , not imprisoned in Long Kesh as in the early 1970s but in the new purpose built Maze with its strict regime ( Criminalization is a demoralizing thing ) while recruitment into the ranks was drying up ( If you go around blowing up innocent civilians you can expect this to happen ) , as I said Isolation , criminalization and demoralization weren`t the invention of Thatcher

Another serious factual error that leapt out at me was the court room scene. In a Northern Ireland " Diplock " court used to try people up for terrorist offences ( Remember both loyalist and republican defendants were tried this way )there`s three judges used but here we see only one who is a toffee nosed Englishman as are the defence barristers . In most cases Diplock judges were Irish , as are defence and prosecuting attorneys , but not only are most defence lawyers Irish they`re nearly all Irish catholics ! The most notorious loyalist murder gang " The Shankhill butchers " - whose idea of a good night out was to kidnap the nearest suspected catholic passerby and slowly skin him alive - where defended by a catholic lawyer , so how on earth a film that struts its credentials as being " Based on factual events " can get away with this misrepresentation of a Northern Ireland court is beyond me . There are also several iinaccurate details in geography and anachronisms like the Brits uniforms ( The polycarbide helmets they wear weren`t introduced untill 1986 ) which I couldn`t help but notice

These above comments are facts which can`t be disputed . They can`t be disputed because they are facts , so I won`t put too much opinion on SOME MOTHER`S SON . It is very well acted and it was very good to see that for a brief moment Helen Mirren`s character Kathleen Quigley comes to the realisation that she`s being manipulated by the IRA / Sinn Fein but this is a brief moment in a film that`s preceeded by polemical opinion which screams " Britain is entirely responsible for the troubles " and finishes with a caption giving the names of the ten IRA/INLA hunger strikers . I guess it would have been too much to print the names of those murdered by these particular hunger strikers ?