Too much of everything

From my favorite movies..

The acting in this movie is really good.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This movie apparently documents the story of a young Brendan Behan,who is sent to be a borstal boy,after it is discovered he is a terrorist. First,let me make it very clear:this movie does not document what really happened. 90 per cent of it was created by the writer,to liven up the story. The starring role was given to an American actor,who unfortunately portrayed Behan as a spastic with a speech impairment.Whether this was intentional I cannot say,but it certinatly adds a comic edge to the movie.This movie has many unintentionally funny scenes.The screenplay appears to have been written by a one week old chimpanzee. One scene in particular that highlights this is when Behan and a group of friends attempt to escape. On their journey,they arrive at a beach.The first thing they decide to do is have a frolic in the sand,as all young men do when they arrive at a beach. But tragedy strikes,when two of his friends run over a land mine,and are killed. This scene is so badly directed,that it ends up being hilarious,as opposed to sad. This is one of the many scenes created by the script writer,to make the movie more Hollywood.If you are looking for comedy,this movie may just be the one for you,however,if you want a true account of the life of Brendan Behan,go read his book,and avoid this movie at all costs.

(PLOT SPOILERS) An elaboration - (it is pretty much wholly different) of the autobiographical novel of the same name about the early life of Irish writer Brendan Behan this is a very moving film in places and nonsensical and cliched in others.the film begins with Brendan being arrested by English police just prior to planting a terrorist bomb. He briefly meets thievin Cockney sailor Charlie Millwall (Danny Dyer) who ends up in Borstal with him.Charlie warms to Brendan immidietly although Brendan is initially hostile. However as is inevitable, Brendan gradually revises this and they become chinas. the main prompt for this bonding is several adventures - which it must be said are by and large entirely improbable! For instance there is an army vs. boys rugby match!!! They at Brendan's request also stage an all boys "Importance of Being Earnest" which is also too odd a request to grasp! Also they try an escape that ends in tragedy.Another is having to paint a crumbling room into a studio for Liz,(Eva Birtwhistle)the evacuated and dissatisifed duaghter to Borstal head Joyce (Micheal York) who in time develops quite a close relationship with BrendanIn the end Charlie and Brendan's relationship becomes closer too and Brendan realising that he harbours some attraction to Charlie kisses him.However the resident bully Dale (Lee Ingleby) has it in for Charlie and attacks him. This Liz walks in on and is almost raped. Brendan saves Liz abandoning Charlie. Charlie as a result leaves, joining his ship and in the end is killed when it is torpedoed. at the end Brendan kisses Liz and she encourages him to write (which kinda came out of nowhere because this film didn't give any indication he could write till the very end - kinda odd since Behan was a writer!!)Overall this works only because of the strength of the acting, because many elements are hokey and wholly unbelievable. Sometimes the characters are walking cliches. Liz for instance is the atypical poor little rich girl, and Birtwhistle only just pulls it off with any level of sincerity and conviction . The cartoonish super villainy of Dale was awful too, the escapees don't want Dale's involvment. Yet Dale's ears seem to be able to prick up every time they speak about the plan. I understand Dale is being potrayed as evil but does that mean they have to give him supernatural powers of attention too? don't think so! Also Lee Ingleby looks really sweet and non imposing most of the time and you wonder why some of the other boys who are all supposed to be rough criminals of some type or another doesn't smack him when he tries to interfere!the two central performances are what is so special Hatosy is very good as the child desperately trying to be a man and a rebel through being gruff and pretentious "I am a prisoner of war it's my duty to escape!" he says for instance more than once. he had an effective stutter too however the Irish accent is sometimes all over the place but this is also a credit to his performance because this didn't distract me(and normally such things annoy me like you wouldn't beleive)!the true miracle here was Dyer though he was spectacular, pure and simple. If there is any justice in this world this man will in the future be doing more high calibre work than appearing in the likes of "High Heels and Lowlifes". he is beautiful in every sense a soulful, sensitive and sad presence but still a bit of a cheeky and funny wideboy too. And he is capable of conveying heartbreak, and melancholy at being rejected with just a look. He's just the don, the scene where Liz and Brendan cry about his death almost made me cry Danny Dyer rocks!

I really enjoyed this movie! Takes a careful ear to pick up on the accents at first. If it gets wider distribution (I saw at a film festival in San Francisco), it ought to really boost Shawn Hatosy's career. It's the best he's done. I'll buy it on DVD when it's available.

In wartime England a reform school headed by a benign warden harbors troublemakers of different nationalities. The IRA rascal, brilliantly played by an American, Sean Hatosy, is just one of the boys whose antics propel Sheridan's film through comic scenes to a finale of loss and sadness. Sheridan's cutting is quick and deft, and, except for the last 10 minutes the plot skillfully avoids the pitfalls of sentimentality.Warning to new directors: pop songs on a movie soundtrack can be injurious to your film, as it is here, along with a peculiarly stagy ending in an Irish railway station, where the hero vanishes into clouds of steam. Otherwise the film is very moving, and certainly one of the best investigations ever into the rightness of feelings of love. Defying the long and awesome tradition of Irish verbal art, Sheridan demonstrates that sometimes silence is the best way to express the feelings that attend separation. The inmates' production of Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a small triumph. The entire film is a huge triumph for director Sheridan. See it in a theater with a good sound system: sometimes the Irish-accented English can be hard to grasp.