Michael Collins (1996): An Analysis (Part 2)

Neil Jordan's biopic of controvertial Irish leader Michael Collins received mixed reviews for his historical inaccuracies and dramatic failings. This review will analyse the film with regard to a wider historical and political context.
This film falls under Fair Use as part of Copyright Act of 1976, 17 U.S.C. § 107 for purposes of criticism and education.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• devalera
• boland
• anglo irish treaty
• war of indepdendence
• troubles
• carbomb
• assassination
• michael collins analysis
• neil jordan

[Ranillon]

In the end, your entire argument is based on seeing things in the movie that aren't really there -- or, at best, are highly debatable. Sure, as the main character Collins gets more time and sympathy, but there is a HUGE difference between that and the propaganda piece you accuse the movie of being. For that you need a much better argument, yet you merely show clips with a lot of scoffing and ridicule added. Where are the killer facts and insights that prove your assertions? I don't see any.

[tarafoundation]

@Ranillon The propaganda elements are blatantly obvious. Roger Ebert's review highlights the film's worst historical distortion thus: 'even Dev could hardly have imagined this film biography of Collins, which portrays De Valera as a weak, mannered, sniveling prima donna whose grandstanding led to decades of unnecessary bloodshed in, and over, Ireland.' The film is such a complete failure, both factually and technically, that it needs no additional help to destroy its own credibility.

[Ranillon]

Continues...Likewise, there is no redemptive outcome from Collin's death as you'd expect from a real Christ figure. Quite the contrary, his death is presented very much as a lost opportunity, a senseless loss. Also, toward the end Collins is shown as a deeply tormented man with a likely death wish. He certainly isn't some conquering hero reveling in his amazing achievements. This all makes Collins a morally ambivalent character, hardly straightforward hero worshipping material.

[tarafoundation]

@Ranillon 'In his brief lifetime, he had fought the British Empire to a stalemate, negotiated the first Treaty of Independence for Ireland and overseen its transition to democracy. He died, paradoxically, in an attempt to finally remove the gun from Irish politics'. These pompous and crass closing remarks are a perfect summation of the absurd lengths Jordan went to in crafting this mess.

[thebigfella221]

@tarafoundation he even helped cause the cival war knowing what would happen. look at the way he behaved when the collins family wanted 2 bury michael and errect a marble headstone,, no no no dev couldnt allow it, it had to be made of granite, it can oly say this on it, it can oly be this big and this width, the bastid should of had a lee enfield .303 put into his mouth and told to get back to new york where he belonged. he would have been shot dead in 1916 only he wasnt irish

[thebigfella221]

@tarafoundation de va lera should not have even been in the movie or maybe just for a brief scene or two. he was an arrogant self obsessed lunatic madman. he was even an irish man how could this man be president of a nation he is not even from. he sent collins over knowing exactly what was on the table but he could not bare the embarassment himself of signing with the british.

[tarafoundation]

@tarafoundation The symbolism of Collins striving for an end to violence against the war-mongering anti-Treatyites is pretty obvious.

[tarafoundation]

@Ranillon You don't need a degree in theology to recognise the messianic theme that is woven into the fabric of this film. The character of Collins is painted as one doomed to sacrifice his life for the nation. Everything points to this: from the line 'life is possible - he made it possible' to the melodrama of his death scene and shots of the funeral interspersed with worshipful screen titles.

[tarafoundation]

@Ranillon 'your criticism here seems based, as far as I can see, simply on the fact that the movie doesn't glorify de Valera and/or condemn Collins, a view you'd apparently prefer.' You're inference is ironic, given the hatchet-job Jordan make of de Valera's character and the ridiculous lengths he went to to try and make Collins look a hero.

[tarafoundation]

@Ranillon Dramatic licence is one thing - deliberately portraying a character as a symbolic rat and turncoat instead of telling the true story - quite another. In reality, there is evidence that Collins ordered Boland's murder, but that wouldn't fit with Collins's heroic deification in this plot.

[tarafoundation]

@Ranillon I would have no problem with emotion. What Jordan portrays is illogical actions which have little basis in historical fact, simply to illustrate that those who are against the Treaty are violence, illogical and insane.

[tarafoundation]

@Ranillon 'who cares where the scene was filmed as long as it is reasonably accurate historically?' It matters, because it fails in being accurate and it gives a false impression of the Dáil. Like portraying parliament meetings taking place in catacombs, it gives the impression that the elected Irish government was an illegal and unmandated rabble. Attacking the Four Courts with two 18 Pounder field guns is a curious way of preventing violence.