Five Minutes of Heaven
3.5/4
Starring: James Nesbitt, Liam Neeson, Anamaria Marinca
Rated R for Language and Some Violence
If you could meet your nemesis, would you do it?
It's a fair question. We all have people that have wronged us in some way. It's part of life. But for Joe Griffen, all the wrongs in his life stem from one night: when Alistair Little murdered his brother.
In 1975, Irish Protestant Alistair Little (Mark Ryder) was young and ambitious, wanting to fight the good fight and be exalted as a hero. To do this, he and his friends take the task of assassinating a Catholic man. Alistair shoots him in cold blood through the window. In doing so, he locks eyes with the man's younger brother, Joe. There, their pasts diverged (Alistair spent 13 years in prison and is making peace with his past by trying to prevent other young men from following in his footsteps while Joe lost his other family members in the remaining years). Now, a talk show has brought these two men together.
Although this sounds like a dull, talky affair, it's actually a riveting film. Much of that has to do with the powerful performance of James Nesbitt. Liam Neeson and Anamaria Marinca are great, but this is his film. As Joe, Nesbitt is a storm of conflicting emotions. He has spent a lifetime ruminating on that one night. His mother incorrectly blamed him for not intervening to save his brother's life, an accusation that still haunts him. And in his own mind, he has turned Alistair into such an evil creature that even the Devil would be afraid of him. His car ride to the talk is an example of his complicated feelings. He is eager and terrified to confront the man he believes to be responsible for a lifetime of pain. The poor guy can barely hold himself together.
Not that Alistair is much better. He made peace with what happened, but his soul is irrevocably damaged. He's drifting through life in a mixture of weariness and guilt. He wants redemption and works to achieve it, but he understands that it will probably never come. Murder isn't something one can really atone for. Or get over.
The film is about Jim and Alistair, but there is a third cog in this wheel: her name is Vika. She's a runner on the show, so unless there's some random task that needs doing, she's on her own. That presents her with an opportunity to be a helpful ear to the frazzled Joe. There's nothing she can do to ease his pain, or even calm him down, but she knows that she can be there to listen and be supportive. Sometimes that's all we need.
What happens when the two men meet, or even if they meet at all, is not for me to reveal. What is fair to discuss is the provocative issues this film raises. For example, are the shows producers exploiting these men? Certainly there is a desire for ratings and publicity. Watch how they talk to Alistair and Joe. Do they understand their pain? Do they care? Doesn't seem like it. It's just another interview for them. And what about the risks involved? Surely a situation as explosive as this has the potential to go very, very wrong. Did the people behind the show realize this? Or are they hoping for it to go wrong?
The TV aspect of the film is a necessary contrivance of the plot, and director Oliver Hirshbiegel, who make the searing and disturbing "Downfall," treats it as such. His focus is where it should be: Alistair and Jim. He gives them their due and allows us to get inside their heads. Neither one is healthy, mentally or emotionally. Both bear deep wounds from their actions that fateful night, and both have spent a lifetime trying to confront them and heal. What's intriguing is that the only ones who really understand what they're going through are each other. Not that they believe it, but they are more similar than different.
The film's first act is when the film is the most potent. We don't know what's going to happen, and Jim, the film's most dynamic and interesting character, is front and center. "Five Minutes in Heaven" is a drama, but there is a simmering tension throughout its 89 minutes, and there are times during the first half hour where it becomes unbearable. Once the film shifts gears, a lot of the tension goes away. It has nothing to do with Liam Neeson's performance but the fact that Alistair just isn't as interesting. Alistair has reached a state of peace, but not absolution, so his need for redemption isn't as powerful as Jim's.
The film's final few scenes are unlikely to satisfy anyone. What should be the film's most propulsive sequence is told with a fight and a cliched conversation. It's artificial and lacks the honesty and perception of the first two acts. It's a cheat. A movie this intelligent and frank about its subject shouldn't resort to a stunt like this.
The disappointing ending aside, "Five Minutes of Heaven" is a tense and powerful drama.
Starring: James Nesbitt, Liam Neeson, Anamaria Marinca
Rated R for Language and Some Violence
If you could meet your nemesis, would you do it?
It's a fair question. We all have people that have wronged us in some way. It's part of life. But for Joe Griffen, all the wrongs in his life stem from one night: when Alistair Little murdered his brother.
In 1975, Irish Protestant Alistair Little (Mark Ryder) was young and ambitious, wanting to fight the good fight and be exalted as a hero. To do this, he and his friends take the task of assassinating a Catholic man. Alistair shoots him in cold blood through the window. In doing so, he locks eyes with the man's younger brother, Joe. There, their pasts diverged (Alistair spent 13 years in prison and is making peace with his past by trying to prevent other young men from following in his footsteps while Joe lost his other family members in the remaining years). Now, a talk show has brought these two men together.
Although this sounds like a dull, talky affair, it's actually a riveting film. Much of that has to do with the powerful performance of James Nesbitt. Liam Neeson and Anamaria Marinca are great, but this is his film. As Joe, Nesbitt is a storm of conflicting emotions. He has spent a lifetime ruminating on that one night. His mother incorrectly blamed him for not intervening to save his brother's life, an accusation that still haunts him. And in his own mind, he has turned Alistair into such an evil creature that even the Devil would be afraid of him. His car ride to the talk is an example of his complicated feelings. He is eager and terrified to confront the man he believes to be responsible for a lifetime of pain. The poor guy can barely hold himself together.
Not that Alistair is much better. He made peace with what happened, but his soul is irrevocably damaged. He's drifting through life in a mixture of weariness and guilt. He wants redemption and works to achieve it, but he understands that it will probably never come. Murder isn't something one can really atone for. Or get over.
The film is about Jim and Alistair, but there is a third cog in this wheel: her name is Vika. She's a runner on the show, so unless there's some random task that needs doing, she's on her own. That presents her with an opportunity to be a helpful ear to the frazzled Joe. There's nothing she can do to ease his pain, or even calm him down, but she knows that she can be there to listen and be supportive. Sometimes that's all we need.
What happens when the two men meet, or even if they meet at all, is not for me to reveal. What is fair to discuss is the provocative issues this film raises. For example, are the shows producers exploiting these men? Certainly there is a desire for ratings and publicity. Watch how they talk to Alistair and Joe. Do they understand their pain? Do they care? Doesn't seem like it. It's just another interview for them. And what about the risks involved? Surely a situation as explosive as this has the potential to go very, very wrong. Did the people behind the show realize this? Or are they hoping for it to go wrong?
The TV aspect of the film is a necessary contrivance of the plot, and director Oliver Hirshbiegel, who make the searing and disturbing "Downfall," treats it as such. His focus is where it should be: Alistair and Jim. He gives them their due and allows us to get inside their heads. Neither one is healthy, mentally or emotionally. Both bear deep wounds from their actions that fateful night, and both have spent a lifetime trying to confront them and heal. What's intriguing is that the only ones who really understand what they're going through are each other. Not that they believe it, but they are more similar than different.
The film's first act is when the film is the most potent. We don't know what's going to happen, and Jim, the film's most dynamic and interesting character, is front and center. "Five Minutes in Heaven" is a drama, but there is a simmering tension throughout its 89 minutes, and there are times during the first half hour where it becomes unbearable. Once the film shifts gears, a lot of the tension goes away. It has nothing to do with Liam Neeson's performance but the fact that Alistair just isn't as interesting. Alistair has reached a state of peace, but not absolution, so his need for redemption isn't as powerful as Jim's.
The film's final few scenes are unlikely to satisfy anyone. What should be the film's most propulsive sequence is told with a fight and a cliched conversation. It's artificial and lacks the honesty and perception of the first two acts. It's a cheat. A movie this intelligent and frank about its subject shouldn't resort to a stunt like this.
The disappointing ending aside, "Five Minutes of Heaven" is a tense and powerful drama.
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