'In the Name of the Father'- a compelling story

Rating: 9/10 (21 October 2005)

'In the Name of the Father' is a true story based on the Guildford Four. In particular it follows the story of Gerry Conlon who was wrongly accused of the Guildford Pub bombing in the 1970's.
There were some outstanding performances by Emma Thompson who played Gareth Peirce, Pete Postlethwaite who played Giuseppe Conlon but by far the best performance was by Daniel Day-Lewis who played Gerry Conlon. He made his character seem so real and believable making the audience sympathize with him. The last speech he made was very passionate and well spoken leaving the audience with a tear in their eye because they were so moved.
The layout of the film was interesting by the way they showed the bombing right at the start of the film then going back to Gerry in Ireland and follow what he does up until the bombing and afterward. This captures the audience attention from the start making them interested and willing to find out what will happen next.
The film shots and camera angles help to emphasize the feelings and emotions felt at certain parts of the film. For instance, there are many times when Giuseppe is shown behind Gerry to show how Giuseppe is always looking over Gerry's back. There is also a shot that shows the police officer looking down on Gerry in an intimidating way trying to get him to sign a confession.
The soundtrack sets the mood in the scenes, it was happy when Gerry was happy, dramatic when it was a dramatic sound and sad when something bad happened. It really helped to set up the scenes. There was a lot of good music that kept the audience interested.
There were many themes that were clearly shown in this film. These were injustice, corruption, family values and equal rights. The dialogue clearly showed these themes and helped to make the audience really think about them.
'In the Name of the Father' is a moving film that really captures the audience's attention and keeps them in suspense the whole time. It is a good watch and I really recommend it.