ianlouisiana Review of Mo

Mo (2010 TV Movie)

"If you want a friend in politics get a f*cking dog"

[8/10 · 1 February 2010]

Betrayed by a duplicitous Prime Minister,shafted by the appalling Peter Mandelson,Dr Mowlam finally saw the truth of this maxim,as,stricken with a brain tumour,she sees Politicians for the pack of unscrupulous,self - serving, power - mad individuals they really are. Having worked herself to exhaustion fronting the bully - boy Unionists and the cold hatred of Adams and McGuinness,the Fred Flinstone and Barney Rubble of Irish Republicanism,she was the catalyst for the Good Friday Agreement.All concerned have admitted it couldn't have happened without her. Her reward was to be replaced by Blair's crony,a man whose ambition and ego knows no limit. As portrayed by Miss Julie Walters,Mowlam was an intelligent,perceptive,earthy woman not above using her gender to discomfit opponents in her male dominated arena.It says much for her single - mindedness that she concentrated on doing her job to the extent that she failed to watch her back or to believe that "Tony" would stick a knife unerringly between her shoulder blades. Miss Walters is never better than when,having publicly handed over to Mandelson,Dr Mowlam sinks behind a pillar and lets go her long pent - up hatred and contempt in a bravura display of four letter words. Mr David Haigh is excellent as her supportive husband who endures her long absences in the cause of a Government he believes to be unworthy of her. She died aged 55,unforgiving,but aware that her contribution to the Good Friday Agreement was immense,her successor's irrelevant. "Mo",produced for ITV, does not shrink from it's subject's idiosyncrasies,her fondness for drink nor her frustration at her decreasing powers as her disease progresses. She is devastated to learn that many of her best - known attributes,i.e. her bullishness,frankness and lack of inhibition may in fact have been caused by her brain tumour in its earlier stages,rather than having been part of her natural development. It assumes that its viewers will have a working knowledge of British politics in the mid 1990s and be aware of the intricacies of the Irish Independence issue. Shot mainly on location,it is a world away from TV's usual comfortable Sunday night viewing. Miss Julie Walters in the title role is both "Mo"'s blessing and it's curse.It's certainly a tour de force of high - powered acting - make no mistake - but we are still aware that,underneath it all,it's still Julie Walters,one of the best - known faces on British TV,who,sadly,can never escape from her previous history. Having said that it's possible that without her,"Mo" would never have been made,so perhaps the slight air of deja vu her performance generates is a small price to pay.