'71 (film)
'71 | |
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Directed by | Yann Demange |
Written by | Gregory Burke |
Produced by |
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Starring | |
Cinematography | Tat Radcliffe |
Edited by | Chris Wyatt |
Music by | David Holmes |
Production companies |
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Distributed by | StudioCanal |
Release dates |
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Running time | 99 minutes[2] |
Country | United Kingdom[1] |
Language | English |
Budget | £8.1 million[3] |
Box office | $3.1 million[4] |
'71 is a 2014 British
Plot
Gary Hook, a new recruit to the
One soldier is hit by a rock and drops his
After Hook leaves, he wanders into the
Hook staggers away and again gets lost in the streets, eventually collapsing. Two Catholics, Eamon and his daughter Brigid, discover him as he lies in a street unconscious and injured by shrapnel. They take him to their home in the Divis Flats. Eamon, a former army medic, stitches Hook's wounds. Despite the Provisional IRA having recently taken control of the area from the OIRA, Eamon contacts senior OIRA officer Boyle for help, expecting a more humane solution than the Provisional IRA faction would allow. Boyle, less radical and violent than the younger Provisional IRA members, tells Captain Browning, leader of the local MRF section, of Hook's whereabouts and asks in return that Browning kill James Quinn, a key leader of the younger Provisional IRA faction.
Quinn and his squad have tailed Boyle since the pub explosion and saw him visit Eamon's flat without knowing why he was there. Sensing danger, Hook flees the flat, taking a large knife he finds in a bag. Hook eludes Quinn's men but, unable to evade Haggerty, stabs and kills him. Quinn's group captures Hook and takes him to a hideout. Quinn orders Sean, the young boy who, in the early neighbourhood persecution, had hesitated to kill Hook, to murder him. When Sean hesitates, Quinn prepares to execute Hook, only to leave when Browning's group arrives. Sergeant Lewis of Browning's group shoots Sean, to Hook's horror. Lewis then attempts to strangle Hook to prevent him from informing others about the bomb. As Lieutenant Armitage and his men enter in support of Browning, Armitage sees Lewis's attempt to kill Hook. Sean, having survived the first shot, raises himself and shoots Lewis dead, before being shot again, this time fatally by Armitage. Browning finds Quinn and, rather than arresting or executing him, tells him Boyle wants him dead and needs to be dealt with. As Quinn leaves, Browning tells him he will be in touch soon.
Hook is returned to his barracks. Later, despite a formal complaint by Armitage, the commanding officer dismisses the incident involving Hook, Lewis and Sean as 'a confused situation' that merits no further inquiry. Hook returns to England, throwing his dog tags from the ferry, and is reunited with his younger brother.
Cast
- Jack O'Connell as Gary Hook
- Richard Dormer as Eamon
- Charlie Murphy as Brigid
- David Wilmot as Boyle
- Sean Harris as Captain Sandy Browning
- Killian Scott as James Quinn
- Sam Reid as Second Lieutenant Armitage
- Barry Keoghan as Sean Bannon
- Paul Anderson as Sergeant Leslie Lewis
- Jack Lowden as Thompson ("Thommo")
- Adam Nagaitis as Jimmy
- Martin McCann as Paul Haggerty
- Babou Ceesay as Corporal
- Corey McKinley as Billy Loyalist child
- Paul Popplewell as Training Corporal
- Amy Molloy as Mother in Raided House
- Valene Kane as Orla Spitting Girl
- Harry Verity as Darren
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that 96% of 138 surveyed critics have given the film a positive review; the average rating is 7.80/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Powerfully directed and acted, '71 stays true to its fact-based origins while remaining as gripping as any solidly crafted action thriller."[9] On Metacritic it has a score of 83 out of 100 based on 33 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[10]
Writing for the Los Angeles Times, Kenneth Turan called '71 "a tense thriller from Britain that so adroitly joins physical intensity, emotional authenticity and political acuity that you may find yourself forgetting to take a breath."[11] Manohla Dargis of The New York Times singled out Jack O'Connell for praise, saying, "Mr. O'Connell runs away with '71, in which his character's every emotional, psychological and physical hurdle makes for kinetic cinema."[12] The Hollywood Reporter critic Leslie Felperin noted of Yann Demange's direction, "A big part of [Demange's] achievement resides in the casting of such a veteran crew of character actors in the first place, but credit is due for coaxing such subtle performances."[13] Jonathan Romney in Film Comment praised the originality of the film, "a rare hybrid between hard-nosed realism, on the cusp of a quasi-documentary style, and genre thriller-adventure", while criticising the opening and closing scenes as conventional.[14]
Accolades
'71 won Best Director at the 2014 British Independent Film Awards,[15] after receiving nine nominations.[16]
The National Board of Review named '71 one of the top 10 independent films of 2015.[17]
Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipients | Result |
---|---|---|---|---|
British Independent Film Awards[18] | 7 December 2014 | Best British Independent Film | '71 | Nominated |
Best Director | Yann Demange | Won | ||
Best Actor | Jack O'Connell | Nominated | ||
Best Supporting Actor | Sean Harris | Nominated | ||
Best Screenplay | Gregory Burke | Nominated | ||
Best Technical Achievement | Chris Wyatt (Editing) | Nominated | ||
Tat Radcliffe (Cinematography) | Nominated | |||
Best Achievement in Production | '71 | Nominated | ||
The Douglas Hickox Award for Debut Director | Yann Demange | Nominated |
References
- ^ a b c d "'71 (2014)". British Film Institute. Archived from the original on 25 March 2016. Retrieved 20 March 2023.
- ^ "'71 (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 4 August 2014. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- Screen Daily. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ^ "'71". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- ^ "'71 – Screen Yorkshire". Screen Yorkshire. Archived from the original on 15 November 2016. Retrieved 26 March 2018.
- ^ "Production Begins on Northern Ireland-set '71'". The Irish Film & Television Network. Iftn.ie. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2013.
- ^ "First Films for Competition and Berlinale Special". berlinale. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 31 December 2013.
- ^ Lodge, Guy (7 February 2014). "Film Review: ' '71'". variety.com. Retrieved 22 November 2014.
- ^ "'71 (2015)". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 27 December 2020.
- CBS Interactive. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ^ Kenneth Turan (27 February 2015). "Review: ''71' delivers 100% tension amid 'the Troubles' in Ireland". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Manohla Dargis (26 February 2015). "Review: In ' '71,' Young, Green and Behind Enemy Lines". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
- ^ Leslie Felperin (7 February 2014). "'71: Berlin Review". The Hollywood Reporter.
- ^ Jonathan Romney (12 February 2015). "Film of the Week: '71". Film Comment. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
- ^ Barraclough, Leo (7 December 2014). "Matthew Warchus' 'Pride' Wins Top Prize at British Independent Film Awards". Variety. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ^ Barraclough, Leo (5 December 2014). "Amy Gustin, Deena Wallace to Head British Independent Film Awards". Variety. Retrieved 21 December 2014.
- ^ "National Board of Review Announced 2015 Award Winners". National Board of Review. December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2015.
- ^ Barraclough, Leo (7 December 2014). "Matthew Warchus' 'Pride' Wins Top Prize at British Independent Film Awards". Variety.
External links
- '71 at IMDb
- '71 at AllMovie
- '71 at Rotten Tomatoes
- '71 at Metacritic