Rioting in the streets, soldiers searching peoples' homes, terrorists torturing and killing suspected collaborators - one might think this is the setting of modern day Baghdad or the Gaza Strip, but it was only twenty years ago that this exact scenario was being played out in Belfast, Northern Ireland. While things have calmed down significantly since then, the scars of that conflict continue to cast a long shadow, and Fifty Dead Men Walking reminds us that it was not long ago when the west had something in common with the people we now associate with being the victims and perpetrators of terrorism.
At its core, the "troubles" was a war being fought by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), the Ulster Loyalists, and the British army. Trying to get the politics straight is hard, and you might want to brush up on your modern Irish history a bit, but to give you a quick summary, the Loyalists are Irish Protestants loyal to Great Britain, while the IRA are Irish Catholics, fighting both the Loyalists and the army in order to kick the British out of Ireland.
Fifty Dead Men Walking is based on the book by Martin McGartland, a former informant for the British Special Branch in Belfast. At the start, McGartland (played by Jim Sturgess) is just a petty thief. After being chased by British soldiers and even getting the shit kicked out of him by one, he becomes a mark for the IRA, who want him to fight for the cause. But after witnessing a group of IRA soldiers shoot the kneecaps off a friend for some petty crime, he becomes an informant for the British police. He gets in deep with the IRA, moving up the ranks all the while feeding information to his handler Fergus (Ben Kingsley). Leading a double-life causes great friction for McGartland, as he fears not only for his own safety, but that of his wife and child. But as a result of his efforts, he saves the lives of fifty men targeted by the IRA.
The film shows just how bleak the choices were for people living in Belfast at the time. How do you choose a side when both seem so reprehensible? McGartland arguably chose the lesser of two evils. For all their revolutionary posturing, the IRA come off as nothing but terrorists. They beat, torture, and assassinate anyone they think might be a collaborator. But the British are hardly better, beating up civilians, invading their homes, and using people like McGartland for their own ends. That anyone could live through this nightmare is, at a minimum, astonishing.
And live they did. The real McGartland is still alive and on the run, having survived a near fatal shooting ten years ago somewhere in Canada. His story is truly remarkable, and brought to the screen with great skill by writer-director Kari Skogland. There's almost no let-up from the tension, and the performances are top-notch. That you're not sure who's working for who sometimes may be its biggest flaw. Of course given the nature of espionage, that may be the point. Nevertheless, this is a powerful film and a reflection of the troubled times that we sadly still live in.
