Films about the Northern Irish “troubles” have never really
appealed to me. The conflict was always something
that existed in the background of my youth on television news, but I was too young
and never really interested in politics to understand or want to pay attention. None of the films I have seen that cover this turbulent
time have stuck with me and I never make any special effort to watch
them. So it was unusual for Shadow
Dancer's trailer to appeal to me, yet I still had my doubts about it.
Set in nineties Belfast, the film concerns IRA member
Collette McVeigh (Andrea Riseborough) who reluctantly gets turned by Clive
Owens’ British government agent, forcing her to become an informant on those
closest to her, particularly her brothers Gerry (Aiden Gillen) and Connor (Domhnall
Gleeson) who are both strongly committed to the cause. But suspicions start to arise from
other members that something is not quite right somewhere within. Principally this is a pretty straight forward set-up, but there is something to this.
Shadow Dancer excels when Riseborough is on the screen. I hadn’t liked her in either of the previous
films I’d seen her in (Never Let Me Go and Brighton Rock), but here she is
the core and heart of the film and is excellent. Driven
by a need to protect her immediate family she is torn by the dichotomy of having to betray some to do so, as well as grasping how this impacts
on her political beliefs. She seems lost
in this problem and it’s difficult to judge her decisions when any one could ultimately be worth her life. Riseborough is both thoroughly convincing and compelling and holds the film
together. All the scenes set amongst the
IRA members and the politics are where the film is at its best and most
interesting.
On the flip side the film fails to sustain interest when it
reverts to Owen and his governmental wranglings, as this side of the story is steeped in
procedural cliché and feels flat. Owen
is adequate in the role but doesn’t offer anything that he hasn’t done elsewhere - I honestly
felt like I could’ve been watching something like The International, that’s how
untransmutable he seemed here. However
his first scenes are strong, as are the quietly thrilling first ten or fifteen minutes. The film does manage to pull from
some slightly different genres with a lot of human drama, politics, some
tension and good thriller elements. James
Marsh directed the film well. The
supporting cast is decent too and particularly of note is David Wilmot who
plays Kevin, a more senior IRA member whom Collette appears to be accountable too. He is very successfully unnerving and you're never certain what
he’s going to do exactly.
Shadow Dancer manages to tread the right line between politics, decent drama and thrills. For a film
of this nature it would be too easy to make it a heavy political study or an over the top action film / thriller, but it works
because it's intelligent and there’s real human drama ensconced within this. In fact the main reason it works is
Riseborough. A lesser performance would’ve put more light on the weaker police procedural side of the film, but it’s
easier to overlook that aspect because of what the rest of it delivers. I'm pleased to say Shadow Dancer left me pleasantly surprised.
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