Synopsis
A small time thief from Belfast, Gerry Conlon, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that kills several people while he is in London. He and his four friends are coerced by British police into confessing their guilt. Gerry's father and other relatives in London are also implicated in the crime. He spends fifteen years in prison with his father trying to prove his innocence.
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Cast
- Daniel Day-LewisGerry Conlon
- Pete PostlethwaiteGiuseppe Conlon
- Emma ThompsonGareth Peirce
- John LynchPaul Hill
- Corin RedgraveRobert Dixon
- Beatie EdneyCarole Richardson
- John BenfieldChief PO Barker
- Paterson JosephBenbay
- Marie JonesSarah Conlon
- Gerard McSorleyBelfast Detective Pavis
Recommendations
- 100
Austin Chronicle
For in relating the true story of Conlon's wrongful conviction and 15-year imprisonment, Sheridan has used the tools of the filmmaker to evoke a visceral echo of Conlon's waking nightmare. - 100
ReelViews
Jim Sheridan skillfully interweaves a myriad of subplots and themes into a fast-paced, cohesive whole. - 91
Entertainment Weekly
Sheridan, however, works with such piercing fervor and intelligence that In the Name of the Father just about transcends its tidy moral design. - 90
The New York Times
And, riskiest of all, the film makers eschewed another grainy documentary go at the subject in favor of a movie drama of one of the most compelling true stories of the modern troubles. - 90
Washington Post
In the Name of the Father is as good a compromise of fact and fiction as you could hope for -- and still call it a movie. - 90
The New Yorker
The picture turns into a kind of stylized morality play about the right and the wrong ways for Irishmen to respond to distorted portraits of their character, and it's terrifically effective. - 80
Chicago Reader
But the acting's so good it frequently transcends the simplicities of the script, and whenever Day-Lewis or Postlethwaite is on-screen the movie crackles. - 80
Time
By the end of the movie, whether or not you're a member of Sinn Fein, the Brits' brutality toward the Conlons will get your Irish up.
