Veronica Guerin & When The Sky Falls

[KTS]

Went to see this tonight in The Gate. I thought it was an excellent depiction of the events. Thankfully it never becomes too Oirish, and Cate Blanchett is fantastic. At the end of the movie, applause broke out and many people were crying leaving the cinema.

http//movies.hsx.com/common/assets/movies/GUERN_bb.gif

It doesn't get released in the UK until August and in the US till October. In fact, if you check out the link below to IMDB it still shows the movie as being in production, i.e. not completed.
http//us.imdb.com/Details?0312549

There was another movie made about this a couple of years ago called "When the Sky Falls". It was never released over here. Does anyone know why? Or anything about it? Here's a link to it at IMDB http//us.imdb.com/Details?0166013

http//www.cinemanow.com/images/boxart/174/when_sky_falls_174.jpg

We shall all remember this courageous woman. May she rest in peace.

http//www.cpj.org/dangerous/newsletter95_97/fall1995/guerin.jpeg

KTS

[damien]

quoteOriginally posted by Killing the Shadows

We shall all remember this courageous woman. May she rest in peace.


Theres a difference between being courageous and being stupid.

The woman was an idiot who endangered her family on many ocassions. She not only put her own life at risk but that of her child.

She was also completely manipulated by the Gardai and her paper. The gardai could not arrest gilligan or his gang more than likely due to lack of brainpower so they fed her all this info which she happily published.

It was Veronica and her ilk especially that spa from the Sunday World that made legends of these gangsters and increased support of them in their localities. Her death probably had the Gardai jumping for joy because they got more powers but what did her death really achieve ?

Gangland killings have increased greatly and the Gardai still can't catch anything bar the blue flu.

[KTS]

I agree to a large extent, she should've stopped, but I don't like to speak ill of the dead. To its credit, the Cate Blanchett movie does portray this - they portray her as courageous but also that she should've stopped. It's a nice balance.

[damien]

I'd love to see it cos of Cate Blanchett but I'm weird like that, I won't go out of my belief that she was an idiot. Same way I won't go to see any Roman Polanski movies.

[solice]

i went to see "Veronica Guerin" last night aswell and i was one of the people that left crying. it was one of the most amazing films i have seen in a long long time.

the story is not tottally fictionalised and dramatised. it does stick to the facts and only ventures off them to add to the human interest.

powerfull, dramatic and inspiring are words that could describe the absolute brillance of this film. veronica may have been foolhardy, idiotic and foolish but her legacy and the work she did deserves no criticsm or harsh judgements by anyone.
sure she put her life and the lives of her family in danger but go and see the film and you will understand why. the pain and the suffering suffered by the people in dublin at that time by the hands of scum was something that was completely overlooked and forgotten. veronica drove the criminals, drug dealers and prostitutes and pimps away from the people they were hurting.

this film was inspiring, heartwarming, tear jerking and above all else absolutely fantastic. everything from the acting to the sets were impecable.

i only have two faults with the film, the portrayed gormley as somebody that he is most def not, they had him wearing a tie and they showed him in a way that gave the impression that he didnt care about the drug problem untill it was publicised. hmmmmm. gormley was elected as a td on his anti drug stance and promises of rejuvination of dublin inner city. they also called all t.d.'s - m.p.'s. hmmmmm

i would give this film 10 lucky clovers
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[KTS]

quoteOriginally posted by damien
I'd love to see it cos of Cate Blanchett but I'm weird like that, I won't go out of my belief that she was an idiot. Same way I won't go to see any Roman Polanski movies.


Go see it, Damien. Cate gives one of her best ever performances - no Oirish accent from her! It is fairly pro-Veronica Guerin (obviously) but as I said, not completely, it does show all her family/everyone telling her to stop - and to an extent it leaves it up to the viewer to decide. Obviously, because she's dead, they're careful to make her a hero. But it's still worth a look, honestly.

KTS

P.S. Btw, I agree with you on the Polanski films.

[bo_selecta]

I saw it on thursday night and liked it...there were a few inaccuracies in it but that was to be expected.

Two things i didnt like...that rendition of "Fields Of Athenry" - sounded like a damn chipmunk on speed and the Collin Farrell cameo appearance - WHY ?!?!?!?!?!?!

This film was "endorsed" by the Guerin family but the other one "When the sky falls" was not...maybe that has something to do with it not being released here?

Damien - I agree with some of your points - the film portrayed her as being supported by her editor when in fact she was manipulated...in an interview before her death she stated that she wanted to move from crime writing to politics reporting but was not allowed.

Also, the same actors seem to keep popping up in Irish movies all the time...do we really have such a small pool to pull from ?

Solice - it was not John Gormley - he is a green party TD - they were trying to show the Independent TD Tony Gregory.

[solice]

thank you for the gregory thing, i knew when i was writing it that it was wrong but i just couldnt think of his actual name. once again thank you.

but i thought the fields of athenry were very good, it was sung by one of those street singer kids from grafton street. it added to it alot, it also added some innocence to it. childhood innocence, as if her death was completely unnecessary and one of the most prominent lines in the song (the only line that i could actually make out clearly) was "you must raise our child in dignity". it was like a message to the father and possibly to the country that we should not let our children suffer at the hands of those bastards.

[RubberBoy]

quoteOriginally posted by solice
the story is not tottally fictionalised and dramatised. it does stick to the facts and only ventures off them to add to the human interest.


My understanding was that the crimanl gang in real life was smuggling hash but that this was switched to Heroin in the movie? if that true it seams to me a really big change

[KTS]

quoteOriginally posted by solice
but i thought the fields of athenry were very good, it was sung by one of those street singer kids from grafton street. it added to it alot, it also added some innocence to it. childhood innocence, as if her death was completely unnecessary and one of the most prominent lines in the song (the only line that i could actually make out clearly) was "you must raise our child in dignity". it was like a message to the father and possibly to the country that we should not let our children suffer at the hands of those bastards.




I agree with this. Sure, it sounded a bit annoying and creepy, but it was the one thing in the movie that even came close to wrenching at my heart. It was so surreal, highlighting innoncence vs corruption. Amazing...