Fifty Dead Men Walking.

Without having read Stakeknife – Britain’s Secret Agents in Ireland written by Greg Harkin and Martin Ingram it would have proved more difficult to understand Kari Skogland’s thriller Fifty Dead Men Walking (2008) about Ireland between 1988 and 1991 in a period of Irish history known universally as The Troubles. Stakeknife is an expose of how British Military Intelligence recruited undercover informants via the British Force Research Unit to work for both the IRA and the Unionist organisations. Most notoriously for the ‘Nutting Squad’, which was the IRA’s internal security force that allegedly tortured and killed around 40 suspected informers. Therefore these people were murdered under the direct influence of the British Government!

 

British agent Fergus....

The movie tends to cover much the same ground as the Harkin/Ingram book, but is based on a loose adaptation of Martin McGartland’s 1997 autobiography. McGarland was a petty crook recruited by a British agent known as Fergus who becomes his handler (a not particularly convincing Ben Kingsley) to infiltrate the Republican Army. At first McGarland does not take his new role seriously but the deeper he gets involved the more it affects his own life and the lives of the people around him including his girlfriend Lara (Natalie Press) and their baby.

 

....recruits more agents!

The film takes its name from McGartland's claim, within his book, to have saved the lives of fifty people including police officers, soldiers, and prison guards during his time as an British informant. Thirty six year old British actor and singer Jim Sturgess, who has regularly appeared on TV and in feature films since 1994, gives a credible performance as the double agent. The biggest problem with this film, along side its rather complicated proceeding’s, is the sound, which makes it very difficult at times to understand what is being said, and the old faithful undertitles were not available on the copy I watched!

Prince of Persia: Sands of Time.

Dastan Prince of Persia.

As if remakes in general aren’t bad enough what about a remake of a 2003 video game? Shot on location in Morocco and at Pinewood studios. Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (2010) is set in the sixth century and is about a magical dagger with powers to turn back time and of course if it fell into the wrong hands could evoke world shattering chaos!!! The villain of the piece is the Persian Kings brother, played with some style by Sir Ben Kingsley. Using all the standard text book villainy he gets hold of the dagger which is known as the Sands of Time. The only person capable of defeating this tyrant and saving the world is the Kings adopted son Dastan assisted by the plucky Princess Tamina.

The two main leads, Jake Gyllenhaal and Gemma Arterton, are totally unconvincing as Dastan and his eastern princess who is lacking even the slightest hint of a suntan! It’s a cross between a very bad remake of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) and Spider Man’s outtakes. Mike Newell (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 2005) directs this tolerably entertaining swashbuckler, but don’t expect any real substance or depth.

Hugo

Filmmaker extraordinarire.  

One of the main characters in Martin Scorsese’s first ‘family’ film is the French illusionist and filmmaker Georges Melies famous for many technical and narrative developments in the earliest days of cinema. Hugo (2011) based on The Invention of Hugo Cabret, half picture book, half novel by American illustrator and writer Brian Selznick, also features references to the Lumiere Brothers two Frenchman that were also among the earliest filmmakers.

Hugo with the old toy repairer.

Scorsese’s part fantasy, part tutorial involves a young boy Hugo Cabret played by Asa Butterfield (Son of Rambo 2007, The Boy in the Stripped Pyjamas 2008) who we find living in the walls of the Paris Montparnasse railway station. With the use of flashbacks we find out the boys father (Jude Law) has been killed in a horrendous fire in the museum where he worked. The orphan is then taken under the wing of his drunken Uncle Claude (Ray Winstone) who maintains the clocks at the railway station. When Claude disappears Hugo takes over his uncles responsibilities. The only keepsakes that Hugo has of his fathers are an illustrated notebook and a clockwork robot, which apparently hides a secret. When he clashes with the proprietor of a toy sales and repair shop Georges (Ben Kingsley) and his goddaughter Isabelle (Chloe Grace Moretz) he begins an adventure of discovery.

Hugo and Isabelle at the cinema.

This film is a defense of the cinema as a dream world, something I don’t always agree with, but with Scorsese I’m prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt. He is a filmmaker that constructs classic movies, including Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980) Good Fellows (1990), Casino (1995) and The Departed (2006) and some great documentary’s for example The Last Waltz (1978), No Direction Home (2005) Shine a Light (2008) and George Harrison: Living in a Material World (2011). He is also a man that’s proved his personal interest in the world of film, founding both the Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to film preservation, and the World Cinema Foundation, which is devoted to the preservation and restoration of neglected world cinema. 

Hugo and his father work on their robot.

Hugo is not classic Martin Scorsese but one its obvious he enjoyed making and I would challenge you to find a better opening shot where the camera takes you on a brilliant roller coaster ride. Certainly a story of two parts, when first watching your led to believe it’s a story of a 12 year old boy and his mysterious robot but its not long before you relies that you are being given a history lesson about the early days of film and cinema. Its well deserving of its five Oscars including Best Cinematography for Robert Richardson whose pedigree includes working not only for Scorsese but Oliver Stone and Quentin Tarantino, Best Art Direction and Best Visual Effects. Entertaining, good to look at and well acted, with some very well known performers in what can only be described as cameo roles.

A famous image of early cinema.