Michael Collins (film)

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Michael Collins (1996) is an Irish film about Michael Collins, the Irish patriot and revolutionary who died in the Irish Civil War. Liam Neeson stars as the title character. Also starring are Aidan Quinn (as Harry Boland), Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman (as Eamon de Valera) and Julia Roberts (as Kitty Kiernan). It was scripted and directed by Neil Jordan. The soundtrack was written by Elliot Goldenthal.

Though highly regarded in terms of its narrative form and structure, the film received criticism from historians for its many historical inaccuracies and fictions. It is, however, the second most successful movie in Irish box-office history and the most successful Irish-made film of all time.

Inaccuracies and fictionalisations

Fictional aspects that proved controversial include:

In the scene where Dáil Éireann is meeting in secret, Collins is referred to as Minister for Intelligence; Collins was actually the Dáil Minister for Finance, and Director of Intelligence for the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The roles had no formal link, and neither position had control over the other.
The coverage of Harry Boland, a close friend of Collins; Boland's death did not occur in the manner suggested by the film.
The suggestion that Collins headed the delegation to London that negotiated the Anglo-Irish Treaty; Arthur Griffith led the delegation, with Collins as his deputy.
The claim that Edward Broy of the Dublin Metropolitan Police was murdered by the British after his arrest in Vaughan's hotel; Broy in fact survived the Irish War of Independence and civil war, a decade later becoming Commissioner of the Garda Síochána and living till old age.
The fictionalised account of the circumstances surrounding Collins' death, and the claim that he had travelled to Cork, where he was shot, in order to meet Éamon de Valera, who, the film implied, bore some responsibility for his death, given that the assassin had been with de Valera that day; there is no clear evidence for this, even though de Valera was in the area the night before Collins assassination. The film's treatment of de Valera was criticised by his supporters as unfair.
The blowing up of a carload of hardline northern unionist detectives sent to take over in Dublin Castle to "deal" with Collins and the IRA; no killings of police took place in Dublin Castle. Some commentators contended that this was a link from the Anglo-Irish War to the later Troubles, as while car-bombs were common in the latter, they were unknown in the former.
The fictionalised account of the end of the Easter Rising; in the movie the surrender appears to take place outside the General Post Office in Dublin, whereas it actually took place on Moore Street.
The repetition of widespread myths that Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army split over (i) a supposed "Oath of Allegiance to the King" - there is no such clause in the treaty - and (ii) Partition. (The oath of allegiance is to the Irish Free State – the reference to the King is merely the rather meaningless phrase "be faithful to his Majesty"; partition was expected to produce a version of Northern Ireland half the size of the final reality, determined by a committee with Collins as its head. When he was shot, the balance of power shifted and the Occupied Counties grew from a size economically unsustainable to much larger than Collins had intended. As for the real causes of the split, the record of the Dáil debates on the treaty shows that it was primarily about "Dominion status" rather than complete independence.)
Use of the quote "I would have followed him through hell..." in reference to De Valera when in fact Collins said this with respesct to James Connolly when comparing him to Pádraig Pearse: "Of Pearse and Connolly I admire the latter most. Connolly was a realist, Pearse the direct opposite . . . I would have followed him [Connolly] through hell had such action been necessary. But I honestly doubt very much if I would have followed Pearse — not without some thought anyway" Collins to Kevin O'Brien, Frongoch, 6 October 1916, quoted in Tim Pat Coogan, Michael Collins, Hutchinson, 1990.

Jordan's defence

Neil Jordan defended his film by saying that it could not provide an entirely accurate account of events, given that it was a two-hour film that had to be understandable to a world-wide audience who would not know the minutiæ of Irish history during 1916 - 1922. His critics, however, alleged that the scale of the fiction introduced, the use of real names for 'composite characters' who, like Broy, did not die as suggested, and in particular the misrepresentation of de Valera, the manner of Collins' death, and the introduction of the car bomb, undermined the film's trustworthiness.

A statement in the film that the Irish Free State was formed at the start of 1922, following the Dáil's approval of the Treaty, has since appeared as fact on various websites, even though the Irish Free State did not come into being until December 1922.

Edward "Ned" Broy in this movie was a combination of many different police officers. Broy was a member of G Division, an intelligence branch of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, based not in Dublin Castle but in Marlborough Street. Michael Collins' main agent in Dublin Castle was Dave Nelligan. Like Broy, he too survived the conflict and was later to head the Irish Special Branch.

Most of the fiction in this film is in fact discussed in the documentary that is included on the DVD release.

It is to be noted that the film was originally to be given an over 15's Certificate by the Irish Film Censor; however, the Censor considered it important enough to release it with a PG certificate because of its historical context. The censor issued a press statement defending his decision claiming the film was a landmark in Irish cinema and that he believed "because of the subject matter, parents should have the option of making their own decision as to whether their children should see the film or not". The video release was given a 12 certificate though.

External link

[Michael Collins movie review ]

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