Rating: R
Genre:
Drama
Theatrical Release: 11/25/1992(USA)
Release Date: 01/25/2005
SubTitles: English/Espanol
Dubbed: English
Sound: DD5.1/DD2/DTS
Run Time: 112 Minutes
Flags: Violence, Nudity, Adult Situations, Strong Sexual Content, Not For Children, Profanity
Distributor/Studio: Live/Artisan
In this successful
psychological thriller, a reluctant agent of the Irish Republican Army discovers that some people just aren't who you expect them to be.
Fergus (
Stephen Rea) is an IRA "volunteer" who, despite personal misgivings, takes part in the kidnapping of a black British soldier,
Jody (
Forest Whitaker), stationed in Northern Ireland. The IRA hopes to use
Jody as a bargaining chip to win the release of IRA operatives behind bars, but, while guarding
Jody,
Fergus becomes fast friends with his prisoner.
Jody makes
Fergus promise him that if he dies,
Fegus will look in on his girlfriend,
Dil (
Jaye Davidson), and see if she's all right.
Jody escapes, and
Fergus doesn't have the heart to shoot him; as fate would have it,
Jody runs from the woods into a street only to be run over by a British police vehicle, which then flushes out the IRA compound.
Fergus escapes to London, where he's wanted by the law for
Jody's kidnapping and also by his former girlfriend, IRA operative
Jude (
Miranda Richardson), who thinks he knows too much to fall into the hands of the British authorities. Good to his word,
Fergus tracks down
Dil, and soon the two outcasts find themselves entering into a love affair, although
Fergus discovers that
Dil is not the sort of woman he thought she was. Writer/director
Neil Jordan won an Academy Award for his screenplay; the title song, which was a U.K. hit for
Dave Berry in 1965, was re-recorded for the film by one-time
Culture Club vocalist
Boy George with backing by the
Pet Shop Boys.
~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
;)
