Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Veronica Guerin

my profile | my password | search | faq & rules | forum home

»	Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE » Community » Film Handlers' Movie Reviews » Veronica Guerin

Author

Topic: Veronica Guerin

Leo Enticknap
Film God

Posts: 7474
From: Loma Linda, CA
Registered: Jul 2000

posted 08-04-2003 10:36 AM

My response to this is the same as with 'Phone Booth: Joel Schumacher really hasn't got the knack of directing films which depend on building convincing characters for their effect rather than very expensive and spectacular things that go bang.

The opening title, stating that this is a true story, was not a good sign: in this case it translates as '...so however cliché-ridden the characters, however implausible the plot, however bad the dialogue, you'd better believe it because it really did happen'.

I'm not trying to suggest that Veronica G didn't piss off some very nasty drug dealers and in doing got herself shot. But if she was such a bad journalist as some of the scenes in the film would suggest then I'm surprised she lasted as long as she did. If she wasn't, then it's just as well for Mr. Schumacher that the dead can't sue!

And as for the clichés, oh dear! How do you make Cate B into a whiter-than-white Hollywood hero? Why, have her walk solemnly round a grim, syringe-strewn council estate as the opening credits roll, of course. How do you make a drug dealer seem even more evil than an ordinary drug dealer? Make him bald (a good start), show him hob-nobbing with the political elite and - wait for it - have him threaten to kidnap and sodomise Cate's son, silly! And as for the voiceover telling us that 'everyone in Ireland can remember what (s)he was doing when VG was shot', who are they trying to make her out as? John F. Kennedy?

Furthermore, several issues related to the Guerin case were swept under the carpet: notably the involvement of terrorists in importing drugs to fund political violence (some of the press coverage at the time speculated that the real reason she was assassinated was that she was getting close to exposing that racket), but also the asset-seizing agency established by the Irish government in the aftermath of the murder. None of the blunders it's made in recent years, e.g. seizing the assets of entirely innocent people, got anywhere near a mention.

And if the film is accurate in that Guerin regularly used a mobile 'phone while driving (at high speed), thank goodness the drug dealers killed her before she killed any innocent road users.

| IP: Logged

All times are Central (GMT -6:00)

Printer-friendly view of this topic

The Film-Tech Forums are designed for various members related to the cinema industry to express their opinions, viewpoints and testimonials on various products, services and events based upon speculation, personal knowledge and factual information through use, therefore all views represented here allow no liability upon the publishers of this web site and the owners of said views assume no liability for any ill will resulting from these postings. The posts made here are for educational as well as entertainment purposes and as such anyone viewing this portion of the website must accept these views as statements of the author of that opinion and agrees to release the authors from any and all liability.