Blind Flight (2003)
Starring: Ian Hart, Linus Roache, Bassem Breish, Mohamad Chamas, Ziad Lahoud
Director: John Furse
Running Time: 97 minutes
US MPAA rating: N/AUK BBFC rating: 15
Documentary
On DVD Cast your mind back to the 1980s: Van Halen in the charts, men wandering the streets with ridiculous mullets, and a Prime Minister intent on coming down hard on terrorists. Ah, how times have changed!
It was against this not-remotely-like-nowadays backdrop that Irish teacher Brian Keenan and English journalist were kidnapped from the streets of war-torn Beirut by Islamic fundamentalists (or "mentalists" for short). Confined to a bug-infested cell, the politically-opposed pair gradually came to lean on each other for support in the face of their at-times violent captors and, eventually, become the very closest of friends.
Given that this is based on the writings of both men since their release, and also made use of some considerable involvement from the pair at the scripting stage, it's fair to assume that this dramatic recounting of events is as accurate as you can expect a "true story" movie to get.
Director John Furse, in his first feature-length outing, takes an approach to the job that is simple yet undoubtedly effective - he lets his actors (Ian Hart as Keenan and Linus Roache as McCarthy) play out the story, and all he's doing is filming it. The result is a dialogue-heavy but emotionally-charged hour-and-a-half, which is surprisingly engrossing for a film where relatively little actually happens (they get captured, they spend a couple of years sitting around in their pants, they get released).
Where the film goes wrong is in presenting us with what amounts to a reconstruction and little else. Furse makes the error of assuming that everyone who sees it will already know the ins and outs of the story - but those viewers for whom that's not the case will be left none the wiser as to who exactly carries out the kidnapping, let alone why.
This is an extremely interesting piece of work featuring solid if unspectacular performances from Hart and Roache, but by failing to spend any time on the wider issue it misses out on an opportunity to bring us a message as well as a drama.
DVD Extras: No extras here (I refuse to count the trailers it forces you to skip through at the start to get to the menu).
It's Got: Cockroaches, bad fruit, and a dump in the corner.
It Needs: "One last look at the sun" (or at least a quick shifty at Page 3).
Alternatives: Salvador
Summary: Definitely more enjoyable than spending two years chained to a radiator.
Review by Gary Panton
Review Date: 30th July 2004
External Links
Blind Flight at the IMDB
Comments1 Comment |
| Despite the fact that the film does not go into the wider issues of the hostage situation of the time, I found it a very moving account of the love and friendship between two men in an extremely testing and confining situation. I have been very moved by the fineness, integrity, humour, profundity of perception and spiritual insights -that allowed them to have compassion for their captors - and the beauty of the men (having also read their books books). I thought the film was amazingly successful considering the lack of overt action and that the whole film was limited to the confines of prison cells. To me it was a love story as much as anything else - and that's a beautiful thing. The love between two men who had been stripped of everything external and only have each other and the depths of themselves which they are forced to continually drdge up to absorb the horrendous conditions and emotional strain which faced them over such a long time. The humour, the survival strategies and support for each other are an inspiration. This film is so real. The love is conveyed in completely unsentimental terms - as it was in real life between them, couched in their wild insults to each other. It was very touching to see the care and tenderness they showed to each other. There was a purity that is rare to see on the screen. It's a film that should be widely seen - we need to be inspired by such stories - but unfortunately probably won't ahve a wide audience as people are attuned to the gross fodder of Hollywood, with the action-packed, sentimental and gluggy films. But 10/10 from me. |
| Comment by:- Mary O'Brien | | 20 September 2004 | ip: logged |
