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Jim Sturgess plays Martin McGartland in Fifty Dead Men Walking, a story of economic survival in Northern Ireland |
Walking into more troubles?
FIFTY DEAD MEN WALKING
Directed by Kari Skogland
Certificate P15
WE meet IRA member and Special Branch informer Martin McGartland (Jim Sturgess) as he climbs into his car. A gunman steps up and riddles him with bullets. As he lies on the front seat, bleeding heavily, the screen fades back to the streets of Northern Ireland and we are launched head first into a story of one man’s attempts to make a living in the war-torn province.
The gist of this tale is how poverty drives
people into making harsh choices. Unemployment among Catholic men in Northern Ireland in the 1970s, 80s and 90s was massively high. They faced discrimination because of their
religion and the Irish economy was completely depressed.
Martin is selling knocked-off women’s knickers from a suitcase door to door when he is approached by the IRA, who offer him direction, comradeship and a job as a taxi driver. He finds it hard to say no, despite exhibiting not one jot of genuine Republican feeling.
His criminal behaviour has not gone unnoticed, and he is then recruited by Fergus (Ben Kingsley), a Special Branch agent paying good money for information on IRA movements.
While the tensions of playing two violent sides off against one another is the main thrust of the action in this gritty and violent film, Martin’s motivations – his wish for a better standard of living for his new girlfriend and their young family – provides the real plot.
All goes well until his mod-con-packed home attracts the wrong sort of attention from his Republican friends, leading to a bloody finale.
There are lots of hide-behind-your-hands moments, with tense passages, and all
characters are believable and well acted.
But this film doesn’t try to scratch the surface of the political roots of the Troubles. A brief passage tries to put the strife into historical context and there is the occasional line such as, “The British have tried to turn us into their stupid cousins” from some of the hardened IRA operatives, but overall, this is a microcosmic story of one man’s struggle to earn a living. It is not a consideration of the wider political arguments.
Finally, a word on a soundtrack that was full of grating heavy guitar riffs.
There is a moment where Martin is discussing with his girlfriend, Lara, the music she loves. She rattles off Irish bands including U2 and The Pogues. How much more authentic would the atmosphere of this film been if the director had managed to use Irish music from the period instead of blasting out some unlistenable trash, which at times felt as painful as a going-over from Special Branch. |
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