A deep and powerful movie

Rating: 8/10 (13 February 2008)

I've seen this movie a few times now and each time I watch it, I get more and more sucked into it.
Its one of these films that Jim Sheridan has opted for the right man to play Gerry Conlon, it just doesn't seem that anyone else but Daniel Day Lewis could have pulled this off. His posture, his accent, his mannerism, he just pulled off the character of a mischievous petty thief.
The entire story of how they are convicted just because they are Belfast boys in London who happen to be around on the night of the pub bombing, then held for 7 days and nights under new legislation, beaten and torchered to the point the easiest way to end it all is to sign a confession to something they never done, its all very realistic and you feel part of it.
The court room scene as they are being convicted, both the Guilford 4 & Maguire 7 is one of the most touching scenes I've seen in a movie, just knowing that there are 11 folk, completely innocent, watching a Crown Lawyer sit and tell a jury of how they were involved in explosives and the murder of innocent people when the truth is every last piece of evidence against them is a lie, it actually gets you on the verge of rage. Think of it in context like this, all 11 members who were trialled and imprisoned totalled 120 years combined for something they were not even remotely involved in. This is what makes the said Court Room scene more thrilling.
The way the English police are portrayed into being completely anti Irish due to the ongoing current political circumstances is sickening, it really makes me despise how Governmental bodies worked in those days and it gives you the idea that similar occurrences probably do happen in modern times.
I would recommend this movie to anyone who wants to be sucked into a film for over 2 hours. Unless of course you are a supporter of the British justice system and preach that there is no discrepancies there whatsoever :)