Five Minutes of Heaven

2009 "To face the future, they must face the past."
6.5| 1h29m| R| en| More Info
Released: 19 January 2009 Released
Producted By: BBC Film
Country: United Kingdom
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Synopsis

The story of former UVF member Alistair Little. Twenty-five years after Little killed Joe Griffen's brother, the media arrange an auspicious meeting between the two.

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Reviews

Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise
Dorathen Better Late Then Never
Edwin The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.
bikerhiker46 I've never done this before, but I read the review below written in 2012 and there's no better way to describe this movie. So I am taking the liberty of copying and pasting the review into this spot.*** This review may contain spoilers ***Remarkable interior acting; never caught him acting once! Amazing resources; 3-D characterization, turning on a dime, caught my breath more than a few times. I'm 79 years old,a stage director, still looking for greatness in acting; this is the first time I've ever bothered commenting on any actors other than my own students. That last scene is unforgettable. Nesbitt is a wonder! If I've seen him in motion pictures before, he never registered. This role gives him a chance to stun. Great joy watching him. Having acted myself, I can't imagine how he achieved the depth of his characterization. Technique? Some. Style? Lots. Method? How about lightning flashes from one method to another, seamless. Stellar! I'm better for watching him in this flick; too bad I don't remember him from others. But I'll be watching!
Lee Allen Johnson Would I recommend this movie? "A general moviegoer: Yes" "A filmmaking fanatic: Yes"-This movie started out as a cool Irish young gangster movie. And I thought it was going to be about Liam Neeson's rise to be the best gangster in his little town. But it got way more complex and interesting. It gave me a specific perspective I don't think I've ever seen exactly the way it was portrayed. Movies like this are the reason we can understand each other and can have empathy for people we can not relate to. -It gets reviews from people like Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter calling it "very good at stating the obvious but fails to bring new insight to this age-old morality tale". Sorry Honeycutt, that's part of the point, we can't relate to "age-old" morality tales as well as we can to a new modern telling with today relevant tools and information.
secondtake Five Minutes of Heaven (2009)I have a confession--when the movie started I thought, okay, another pro-IRA movie with a heart. And it's not--it's a beautifully balanced movie about the personal horrors of the Northern Ireland bloodshed and the longterm aftermath as participants struggle to keep going.The two main actors are both from Northern Ireland. Liam Neeson plays a Protestant who as a teenage killed a Catholic worker as part of the tit-for-tat violence of the time. James Nesbitt, a Roman Catholic, plays the brother of the man who was killed, and as a witness to the crime he holds a deep grudge about the murder. And in a key act of political insight, the actors were born on the opposite sides--Neeson was raised Catholic and Nesbitt raised Protestant. The theme of the film is reconciliation in the mold of South African leader Nelson Mandela. The core of the movie is shot in a fancy Irish mansion where television crews are going to watch as the two men, mortal enemies decades before, make an effort to somehow move on, in public, on t.v.How it goes is for you to see. The murder in the 1970s is fact, easy enough to believe, and the meeting of the men is fiction. Nesbitt is utterly terrific. You might think he's overacting (he is, of course, overacting) but it's appropriate, and gives this non-action film some intensity. Neeson is strong in his restraint and in the one main scene where he gives a well-written speech about how to understand these horrors he is also terrific.The filming is extremely simple and in fact the whole scenario is relatively linear, even with all the flashbacks. There are some turns to the events by the last half hour, and in a way this is both the dramatic high and the disappointing low of the film (it resorts to somewhat corny and not quite smartly filmed sequences I won't elaborate). But overall the point is so strong and well meant it's hard to worry too much about whether it's a masterpiece. It's not. It's sometimes slow, it says stuff we probably have absorbed pretty well by now, and it isn't very complex. But what it does do it does with compassion and conviction.
Brigid O Sullivan (wisewebwoman) This film had great potential and missed the mark widely. Too much repetitive dialogue, too many 2 x 4s which ruined the subtlety.This is based on a true story: In 1975 Alistair Little murdered Jimmy Griffin with a young witness, Joe, Jimmy's little brother. Alistair would have murdered Joe also if he had known of the relationship.The script hypothesizes a reconciliation on film between the two main characters Alistair (Liam Neeson) and Joe (James Nesbitt).The Troubles of Northern Island are well captured: the coldness of a killing to achieve manhood and heroism, with differences in religion being the only excuse.It is when the film shifts to today that a clunkiness sets in where a lightness of touch is called for. James Nesbitt, a brilliant actor, overplays scenes that should have been far more subtle, case in point being the shiv he keeps taking out and fondling. Yeah, we really get it. And are smart enough to make the connection to Alistair fondling the gun previously the first time.A fight scene falls (no pun intended) completely flat. As does the 'are they dead?' of the fight at the OK Corral. This is where a psychological war of words would have really played well. I didn't believe it for a second. And a rather forced key role of a 'runner' stole from the tension between the two men. Stark "show don't tell" moment would have worked very well here. Instead we are offered the gossip of the runner commenting on her interactions with the two leads.The ending was way too over the top for me. Liam Neeson on his knees in the middle of London while on a cell phone. No! Understatement would have worked way, way better.6 out of 10 for the leads, and an F for the script. Liam and James were great.