Realistic portraits

Rating: 8/10 (5 August 2008)

Another user wrote this "Too black and white because I sometimes had the feeling that they had left out some parts to make it all a lot easier for the viewer. I can't help believing that Conlon and Hill weren't the nicest guys either," I just have to comment this, because I just saw this movie again and I don't agree with this. Rather I found , and this is a good thing, the unusual fact that the main characters was NOT saints and NOT "good guys". Daniel Lewis small-town-criminal-loser guy is annoying, immature and not very nice. He is not very smart, he is steeling, starts a riot and think it fun, he steels a lot of money from a prostitute.. Not even the hippies like him and his friend, because these Irish criminal guys are a bit to rough. Also , in prison, Levis is arguing like a teenager with his father, most for the sake that his father is "too weak". Also, the main character do drugs. All together I find the characters realistic instead of "saints". Sure, after some years the main character starts to mature bit for bit, but this is described in a subtle way.
This is also what I like with this movie - it is not so polished, the main characters is no saints, actually they are annoying criminals - but this also makes us understand why they was perfect as easy targets to blame for something they wasn't guilty for.