During the 2006 Northern Ireland peace talks, Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney) and Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall) are forced to travel by car to... Read allDuring the 2006 Northern Ireland peace talks, Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney) and Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall) are forced to travel by car together.During the 2006 Northern Ireland peace talks, Sinn Féin leader Martin McGuinness (Colm Meaney) and Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley (Timothy Spall) are forced to travel by car together.
- Awards
- 2 wins & 2 nominations
- Reporter
- (as Lucy Cray Miller)
- Sinn Fein Security
- (uncredited)
- Surveillance Operator
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaFilmed near Larne, Northern Ireland.
- GoofsAerial shot following the MPV as it travels across the Forth Road Bridge shows the under-construction Queensferry Crossing bridge - it only began construction in 2011.
- Quotes
Harry Patterson: You feel the hand of history on your shoulder?
Tony Blair: Around my throat more like. It's like looking at the promised land with the wrong end of a telescope.
- Crazy creditsDuring the end credits for the main cast photographs of the real Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness at various official occasions are shown.
- ConnectionsReferences Enter the Dragon (1973)
- SoundtracksAre You Getting Through
Written by Glen Hansard
Published by WB Music Corp. (ASCAP)
Performed by Glen Hansard, Joseph Doyle, Graham Hopkins, Ruth O'Mahony Brady, Michael Buckley, Ronan Dooney, Una O'Kane, Paule Hughes, Katie O'Conner, David, Odlum
Recorded fby David Odlum at Westland Studios, Dublin and Black Box Studio, France
Produced by David Odlum
Appears Courtesy of Anti Records
Timothy Spall plays Reverend Ian Paisley, leader of the Unionists and an anti-Catholic evangelical minister. Colm Meaney plays Martin McGuinness, the rebellious former IRA leader ("allegedly", he clarifies) who leads the Irish Republicans (Sinn Fein). These two extremists have been at war for most of their lives, yet had never met until circumstances brought them together for negotiations.
One's take on the film will likely be determined by the level of need for historical accuracy and any personal connection to long-lasting war in Northern Ireland. Either of these traits will likely have you scoffing at the backseat verbal sparring and the plot contrivances that allow the two mortal enemies to slowly break down the ideological barriers. On the other hand, it can be viewed as a mis-matched buddy movie featuring a game of witty one-upmanship with political and historical relevance.
Either way, the dueling actors are a pleasure to watch. Mr. Spall surely has the more theatrical role, and he revels in the buttoned-up judgmental nature of Paisley – a man loyal enough to be attending his 50th wedding anniversary party, and sufficiently devoted to his beliefs that his last visit to a movie theatre was in 1973 as he led the protests against The Exorcist. In contrast, Mr. Meaney plays McGuinness as both determined to find common ground and worn down by the years of fighting and lack of progress.
Toby Stephens plays Prime Minister Tony Blair, while Freddie Highmore is the young driver charged with surreptitiously igniting conversation between the two rivals. He is fed instructions through his ear-piece by an MI5 director played by John Hurt, in one of his final film appearances. Unfortunately, this bit of "narration" came across as condescending to this viewer who surely could have done without such elementary guidance. Still, the sight of Mr. Hurt on film is always welcome.
The infusion of humor is nearly non-stop. There's a comical exchange about Samuel L. Jackson, a joke about the Titanic, and a Paisley diatribe at a gas station over a declined credit card that would easily fit in most any Hollywood buddy flick. However, these elements undermine one of the early on screen interviews we see when a citizen states bombs going off as you walk down the street is "part of life". "You can almost taste the hatred" is a great line, but unfortunately doesn't match the script of what we witness on screen. The two men re-hash some key events such as 1972's Bloody Sunday, and it's these moments that remind us just how important this new agreement was to the country. It's understandable (and relevant today) how 40 years of hate can become a way of life and difficult to end, and it also shows us just how far actual communication can go in finding common ground between folks even The Chuckles Brothers.
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Details
Box office
- Gross US & Canada
- $155,475
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $32,895
- Jun 18, 2017
- Gross worldwide
- $482,209
- Runtime1 hour 34 minutes
- Color