October 24–31, 1996

movie shorts

MICHAEL COLLINS

Writer-director Neil Jordans biography of the Irish Republican Army founder opens with the final moments of the disastrous Easter Uprising of 1916. Minutes later and a few years into the future were sitting in on a meeting of the secret IrishRepublican Brotherhood, dominated by Collins (Liam Neeson) and leader Eamon de Valera (Alan Rickman, who still hasnt shaken that German accent from Die Hard). And thats how Michael Collins proceeds for the next two hours short burstsof sketchy but accurate history, crammed in between explorations of Collins relationships with Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn) and the woman they both fall for, Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts). Jordan apparently was concerned about losing American audiencesin the tangled web of Irish history, and overall, his balancing act is successful. Sure, the romance comes at the expense of historical perspective those with little understanding of the Catholic-Protestant hatred at the heart of the 700-yearstruggle for Irish independence will be no more knowledgeable upon leaving the theater and the violence is painted in simplistic, good-guys-vs.-bad-guys blacks and whites. But Michael Collins comes as close to purity as anyone realisticallycould expect from a big-budget, A-list-actor-laden Hollywood movie. Neeson clearly relished the role (Roberts and Quinn seem flat in comparison), and the numerous assassinations and street battles are brutally real.

— Frank Lewis

(AMC Orleans; Narberth; Ritz Five; Ritz 12; UA Grant)