'71 (2015)

good film but with many flaws

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I give this anti-war gem 9 stars even though the various groups were not delineated enough to maintain clarity. The British Secret Service, I think, was involved as well as the IRA and the PIRA and supporters as well as the UDA, the RUC, and the British Army. I have friends in Belfast. I never visited, but I did spend time in Derry, and I lived in Armagh. My plans were to visit Omagh, but I left Ireland instead, missing the bombing by just a week or so (1998). This film shows, above all, humanity in the face of fearful hatred of 'the other.'

I'm kinda split on this movie. I saw it a few years ago when it first came out.Much like a B-level movie, there's a lot of camera-work and what-not that distracts you. It doesn't really seem to connect with me for some reason. The story I found difficult to follow also. It kinda reminds me of Dawn of the Dead in that it seems there are continuity goofs and mistakes.In simple terms, this is a survival movie. That said, there are several parts that I found to be impactful. There is a scene where the British soldier, running away through a hostile section of Belfast, ends up at a pub with a small Protestant child who served as his guide, and his parents and other relatives are above the pub assembling a bomb. The soldier is in the pub when the bomb accidentally goes off outside, killing the child. Honestly, after a while I lost track of the movie due to boredom as it is very long. The pace also isn't consistent. Needless to say, there is a long-term antagonist that has been following the protagonist from early on in the movie. He isn't the one who initiated the survival run (it was a woman who disguised as a mother, plants a grenade on a group of soldiers, one of which is the protagonist, and makes it look like they are the bad guys, setting off a mob action on the soldiers). Rent if you wish, but only if you're dying of boredom.

In the early days of The Troubles, a group of young soldiers are sent to support an RUC search for weapons. The situation spirals out of control, and one greenhorn ends up separated from his comrades and gets left behind. There then follows a long night in Belfast, as SAS, young Provos, UVF and senior IRA men all come across the soldier and try to manipulate him for their own agenda. "We take care of our own," say senior officers, but the film shows the truth to be anything but. This is a low-budget film that does an excellent job of exceeding its fiscal limitations to fashion a taught, gritty thriller. In essence it is one long chase movie on foot, but it never flags, and all dialogue and period detail is plausibly authentic. I would have liked to know more about the soldier, to be more emotionally invested in his character. There is a relationship with a younger brother that bookends the film, but it is an under-developed part of the story. A tale of one man's fight against horrible odds, and no knowledge of Ulster's history is required to enjoy this. The folly of war, and man's cruelty to man vividly dissected.

'71 is a decent movie with a reasonably well developed storyline and a terrific cast. The actors in this movie are small, but their performances certainly are not, Jack O' Connell features in one of his first major roles, his talent as an actor are very visible, he shows a vast amount of dedication to his character. It never really gets exciting, that was my main issue, I was never put at the edge of my seat, eyes glued to the screen anxiously, there's never really any big moments that will pull you in. I never felt truly concerned for Gary, one reason is because he was underdeveloped as a character, we learn very little about him throughout the movie, another being that he is never put in danger that we do not feel he can get himself out of, there's always a sense of hope, it's never too extreme. While the performances are strong, '71 lacks any real excitement that one would expect from a war film, and for that I could not recommend it. A young British soldier finds himself in deep trouble when he's separated from his unit in Belfast. Best Performance: Jack O'Connell