Books, Arts & Manners: Like Father, like Son

JIM SHERIDAN’S In the Name of the Father is, not to mince words, a great film, or, as the Irish would more appositely pronounce it, fillum. It is something with which to bolster audiences: fill ’em up with pity and terror, with laughter, sadness, and rage. And perhaps even— the hardest reaction to elicit from moviegoers—thought.

It is based on the autobiography of Gerry Conlon, a young Belfast Catholic and ne’er-do-well, a fellow who dawdles, gambles, and indulges in petty crime such as stealing the tin off a neighbor’s roof, much to the chagrin of his honest, hard-working father and staunch, dedicated mother. Gerry’s rooftop shenanigans (the British soldiery mistakes him for a sniper and a riot results) get him into trouble with the IRA, some of whom might have been inadvertently compromised in that army crackdown. So, from the very start, Gerry is at the center of a mistaken-identity ruckus.

JS

About the Author

John Simon

Featured Tags

JIM SHERIDAN’S In the Name of the Father is, not to mince words, a great film, or, as the Irish would more appositely pronounce it, fillum. It is something with which to bolster audiences: fill ’em up with pity and terror, with laughter, sadness, and rage. And perhaps even— the hardest reaction to elicit from moviegoers—thought.

It is based on the autobiography of Gerry Conlon, a young Belfast Catholic and ne’er-do-well, a fellow who dawdles, gambles, and indulges in petty crime such as stealing the tin off a neighbor’s roof, much to the chagrin of his honest, hard-working father and staunch, dedicated mother. Gerry’s rooftop shenanigans (the British soldiery mistakes him for a sniper and a riot results) get him into trouble with the IRA, some of whom might have been inadvertently compromised in that army crackdown. So, from the very start, Gerry is at the center of a mistaken-identity ruckus.