MovieChat Forums > '71 (2014) Discussion > Best film I've seen this year

Best film I've seen this year

posted 10 years ago by NoTaste
3 replies | jump to latest

I thought this film was perfect. My (surprise) film of the year so far, I only went to see it because nothing else was on. It was brilliantly paced, constant interest from the moment they arrived in Northern Ireland, excellently acted, totally immersive due to the handheld camera shots which made it amazingly tense. I didn't realise how gripping it was, until I relaxed at the end.
I have to be honest, I didn't live in Falls Road ..... or Belfast ..... or even Northern Ireland in 1971 (and I was only 4), but I grew up in England with Northern Ireland being in the news on a daily basis, and despite that, this is an eye-opener for me, and probably most Brits who were worried about being blown up by the IRA on our home soil and didn't consider what life was like in Northern Ireland for the residents or the squaddies. Having said that, I know that this wasn't a daily occurrence across Northern Ireland. As the film states, this happened during a riot, which may explain the burning cars that some viewers have objected to, but I imagine that the tension I felt as the squaddies were facing the angry mob was real.
I also didn't see any obvious bias in the film (although I imagine it seems obvious if you're on one side or the other), both the extremist catholics and the extremist protestants were prepared to commit whatever atrocities they felt were required to meet their causes, and the Brits were happy to send their kids in to enforce something they knew nothing about, and to play both sides against each other, whatever the cost. Also there was the reality of the ordinary catholics and protestants caught up in this, who were forced to act in a way that they weren't happy with. I found it a very real and brutal story, not afraid to recall some harsh realities of a terrible time.
As for the ending .... it was great, didn't spoil the film at all. Some of the criticisms I've seen say that people would have acted it in a certain way .... but people are people, they usually behave differently to expectations ... and this was a piece of fiction (although similar to a number of actual events), so what factual event should it have been mirroring ?

[–] cody_lightning 10 years ago

the second time around i grew quite nauseous during the riot sequence, partially i think because i knew what was coming, partially because it is such a visceral scene. (also i think i was coming dowen with a cold )

i haven't seen many 'troubles' films, i managed to get through hunger somehow. i think '71 is pitched just right to let the viewer pick up the atmosphere, this immense hatred and confusion. when the father/daughter argue what to do with hook and i just thought, how frightening that it would be too dangerous to take him to hospital etc.

and the callousness of the army, just scary.

when you say 'the ending', do you mean the shootout or resignation? i'm a bit confused because i found the shootout, well, it's stretched out a bit. i can see what the script wanted to do and how i wanted hook to live so much and it would have been devastating etc etc, but i quite like seeing him go 'home' and i wondered if in the world of the early 70s in the UK there would have been much future for them. it's such a bleak film. i keep thinking, i loved SALT when it came out, it's like that film but recast as an existential drama - you know, the nail-biting kind. 

[–] NoTaste 10 years ago

I totally agree about the father/daughter scene. She seemed so sympathetic to Hook's condition, but also realised the reality of her situation. To most viewers (including myself) it seemed obvious that she should hide him, but brought up in that situation, most people (including myself) would probably have done what everyone else in that situation would have. Like you say, frightening!

By 'the ending', I did mean the shootout, and I still find it 'plausible'. The alternative would have been just as 'justifiable' (from a film-makers point of view) ... possibly, more dramatic, and I imagine when they were making the film, it could have gone either way, but I'm glad it went the way it did, and I'm glad they had the final part. I thought it would end after the shots ... and then after the "courtroom" .... but I'm always a sucker for a "happy" ending.

I've not seen Salt ... and have a lot of reservations about Angelina Jolie, but think that Liev Schreiber is always good, so I'm happy to take your recommendation and give it a go. Cheers.

[–] cody_lightning 10 years ago

ha, i don't know if you should take it as a recommendation!

i think the parallel is more tenuous. she spends a large chunk of the film not having dialogue and so her motives remain opaque to the audience and the other parties. but she is always in charge and she has competence for what she does, so she is totally unlike hook. i think i really love people who i can watch doing stuff rather than having it explained to me. and so i loved the consequence of hook's aloneness. no wise-cracking, yay!

i was also reminded of the hurt locker in the way that the drama is very close to the ground. but again, the soldiers in the hurt locker at least kind of have each other and can banter and feed off each other.

that's why i think '71 comes across as this arthouse action flick.

it's a nice ending, you are right, and i think after the ride we've had, we've kind of deserved that as well. i really loved the melancholy of it, there is no sense that anything is resolved , also i guess because we know that this is going to continue for many years.