By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 5 cats
Director: Yann Demange
Starring: Adam Nagaitis | Barry Keoghan | Jack Lowden | Jack O'Connell | Joshua Hill | Paul Popplewell
Country: united_kingdom
Year: 2015
Running time: 99
IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2614684
Kyle says: “Recipient of various international film festival awards as well as BAFTA nominations for Best British Film and Outstanding Debut, Yann Demange’s ’71 is a superlative U.K. political thriller about ‘the troubles’ in Belfast prior to Bloody Sunday in 1972. Young soldier Gary Hook (Jack O’Connell, on the cusp of stardom) is trapped during a military operation in a hostile neighborhood of Belfast, and must survive while trying to figure out how to return to his unit, which he cannot do without help. The boundaries between warring ideologies increasingly blur in human terms, as the film builds to a shattering climax.
“Starting with closeups of hot sweaty military boys in t-shirts boxing and drawing blood, ’71 sends a clear visual signal that this is about guys being manly, which is nothing we have not seen hundreds of times in the past. But when the camera pulls back to a medium shot, we see these guys are boys, all looking small and vulnerable, as we hear a voice of authority announce, ‘Welcome to the regiment’. A low percussive throbbing follows the boys on their maneuvers through mud and other obstacles, as that voice shouts, ‘Team work, boys — Team work!’ At first light, the sergeant announces: ‘Because of the deteriorating security situation in Belfast, your regiment is now being deployed there on an emergency basis. Any questions?’ The woods with its trees and mud and puddles are a scene of pastoral bliss compared to the urban horrors of the place to which they are sent, from which all natural light seems to have been leached.
“‘The troubles’ in Belfast do not delay in raining down upon these raw recruits. As they head for the scariest center of Catholic/Protestant hatred, the parade of military vehicles is absurdly juxtaposed with two small boys playing with a soccer ball, and a young mother strolling with a baby carriage. Seemingly impregnable trucks and tanks suddenly look puny and impotent when surrounded by waves of centuries-old hatreds. A mob scene escalates out of control to a killing, and Gary Hook (Jack O’Connell) is separated from his unit, wounded, terrified, lost, forced to go on the run as guys with guns chase after him through a landscape so desolate only Adam and Eve from ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE would feel at home. Unable to identify who is on which side of the religious and territorial divide, Gary must trust strangers when his training has taught him not to. There is no clear divide between good guys and bad buys, and ‘collaboration’ has many ramifications. Although Gary Hook survives, this is a story without a happy ending.
“’71 is a thriller in the best sense of the word, based on a human story driven by character. It is exquisitely filmed by cinematographer Tat Radcliffe as a participant, not a witness, with one of the best chase scenes in movies, and shots of Belfast at night worthy of classic science fiction, edited by Chris Wyatt for every rhythmic subtlety, its production design by Chris Oddy immersive to a terrifying degree. The outstanding music score by David Holmes pulsates with a strong heartbeat during pursuits and growls ominously when people are about to do awful things. The word to properly characterize the direction by Yann Demange is magisterial.
“Recipient of a BAFTA ‘Rising Star Award’ and a Cannes Film Festival Chopard Trophy for ‘Male Revelation’, Jack O’Connell is instantly identifiable as an actor for whom the word ‘star’ was invented, from the first shot of youthful confusion in his eyes to his final limping stroll down that long corridor after his military hearing. The fools who spend tens of millions of dollars on mindless corporate claptrap, based on slavish imitation of previous corporate claptrap just like it, should sit down in a screening room and watch this one. I first saw ’71 at the 2014 New York Film Festival and it was one of my favorite films. It still is. Highly recommended. 5 cats
“Thursday, September 24, 2015, on Netflix, New York”