At
the turn of the century Britain was the foremost world power and the British
Empire stretched over two thirds of the globe. Despite the extent of its power
its most troublesome colony had always been one of its closest to it - Ireland.
For seven hundred years Britain's rule over Ireland had been resisted by
attempts at rebellion and revolution, all of which ended in failure. Then in
1916 a rebellion began to be followed by a guerrilla war that would change the
nature of that rule forever. The mastermind behind the war was Michael Collins -
Irish patriot and revolutionary.
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| Michael Collins. |
Written
and directed by Neil Jordan Michael Collins (1996) sets out to
define the period including its triumphs, the terror and tragedies. Michael
Collins was the man behind Irish Independence; the man that it was said
invented modern urban guerrilla warfare and fought a campaign to force the
British Government to negotiate a peace treaty, bringing the powerful British
Empire to its knees and round a negotiating table, which in turn led to the
foundation of the Irish Free State.
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| Aftermath of the Easter Rising. |
The
film starts in 1916 with the Easter Rising, Collins was just 26 years old at
the time and it was his first appearance in a national event, when 1000
volunteers in an armed insurrection occupied the Post Office and many other key
buildings in the centre of Dublin as a protest against the British Government
rule in Ireland and force it to establish an independent Irish Republic. The
Rising, organised by the Irish Republican Brotherhood, began on Easter Monday 24th
April 1916 and lasted for six days. Included in the action were members of the
Irish Volunteers, Irish Citizens Army and Cumann na mBan a woman's paramilitary
organisation. Although the general
public of both Ireland and England did not support the uprising that all
changed when the leaders were executed by a British firing squad. Amongst these
was James Connolly the Scottish born Irish Republican and socialist who when he
was executed only had a day or two to live having to be carried into the prison
courtyard and sat on a chair unable to stand.
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| A section of the Irish Republican Army. |
It
was this action by the British government that drove Collins to take up what we
now know as urban guerrilla warfare, which had the aim of avoiding massive
destruction, military and civilian losses. Instead he directed a guerrilla war
against the British with sudden deadly attacks on legitimate targets coupled
with a quick withdrawal, minimising looses and maximising effectiveness.[1]
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| The Black and Tans. |
Film
director Neil Jordan, who also wrote the films script, spent ten years planning
to make a film about Collins and although it does include many historical
inaccuracies it present’s an engaging study of the period and the hard and
bloody fight Southern Ireland had to gain its independence. Jordan was quoted
as saying the he would never make a more important film.
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| The Irish Civil War. |
Beautifully
filmed by Britain’s best-known cameraman Chris Menges, it stars a first rate
cast headed up by Liam Neeson as Collins, Alan Rickman as the powerful Irish
political figure Eamon de Valera, Aidan Quinn as Harry Boland Collins right
hand man for much of the initial struggle, with Collins and Boland’s love
interest Kitty Kiernan played by the American actress Julia Roberts. Also
playing their part in this exciting historical reconstruction are Ian Hart, Brendon
Gleeson, Charles Dance and an early appearance from Jonathan Rhys Meyers.
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| Michael Collins funeral. |
[1] See also one most influential political films of all
time The
Battle of Algiers (1966). Gillo Pontecorvo film vividly recreates a key
year in the Algerian struggle for independence from the occupying French in the
1950’s. A film that has a lot of relevance today.
