IRA or UVF....it didn't matter, Men killed just to obsessively settle the score between Catholics and Protestants. In this story we see a young Neeson join the UVF to become a man and garner the adulation of his peers. He asks for a "killing assignment" and gets one. He and his three mates set out to punish a Catholic "yard worker" who had threatened to hurt a Protestant worker there. They steal a car and make their way to his home where Neeson (14 at the time of the crime) shoots the oldest brother three times in the head through a window while the younger brother (Nesbitt at about eight) remains frozen just feet away. After Nesbitt's brother dies in the hospital his mother blames him repeatedly until her untimely death a few years later. Nesbitt is eaten alive with the recriminations for 33 years then suddenly has the opportunity to meet Neeson to film a television documentary on "reconciling" the past of Northern Ireland.
We see the anguish and self-torture Nesbitt suffers during this time and the uncertainty that Neeson suffers in light of serving just twelve years for stealing a car and not a murder. Nesbitt is the true star as he absolutely shines as the self-inflicted man driven to exact revenge from a man he has never seen since that night.
This is an actor's film with the script and character of Nesbitt far out-weighing that of any other cast member. His obsession oozes from his every pore and makes me glad I wasn't actually born in Ireland.
Highly recommended.
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Topic - "Five Minutes In Heaven": Resolving Northern Ireland - mr grits 19:07:36 11/11/10 (2)
- ...."OF" Heaven....whoops! * - mr grits 14:24:57 11/12/10 (0)
- Agreed, 'Five Minutes of Heaven' is a good film. - Tony D. 19:45:29 11/11/10 (0)