'71 (2015)

Shot mostly in Northern England but depicting Belfast in the year 1971, during the Northern Ireland conflicts. Directed by Yann Demange, have a big cast led by English actor Jack O'Connell.A British soldier, Gary Hook, left in the streets of Belfast after separated from his unit during a riot struggle to find his way back to safety.It is a decent movie, where we can clearly see the three acts structure, simple and straight to the point and the best word I can find to describe it is "Solid". However, its pros is the same as its cons, and its simplicity make the movie not remarkable.The acting is solid as well, nothing over the top as we see in "give me the Oscar" performances, but still good. We can name Jack O'Connell, Barry Keoghan, Sean Harris, Richard Dormer and Charlie Murphy (not the comedian, R.I.P).I was disappointed we could not see more of Valene Kane, who plays a rioter... and that's it, she gets slapped in the face I guess.(Post originally: https://ulvenreviews.blogspot.com.br/2018/02/71-2014-movie-review.html)

Jack O'Connell stars in this film that tells the story of a young British soldier that was accidentally abandoned by his unit after a riot on the streets of Belfast back in the 1971.Richard Dormer Sean Harris,Sam Reid,Charlie Murphy,Paul Anderson and Paul Popplewell co-star with him in a British independent drama directed by Yann Demange.Gary Hook is a new recruit of the British Army.He is part of the platoon that was sent to Belfast in 1971 during the early years of the Troubles in Ireland.Having an inexperienced platoon leader in Second Lieutenant Armitage,the platoon was sent in a violent are where the Catholics and the Protestant are loving together.The unit that he is assigned to conducts inspections of homes for firearms. Protesters known as the Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Loyalists gather side by side which later provoke a riot.Hook got left by the platoon accidentally.Without knowing who among the people are his friend or foe and getting wary of his platoon mates, he tries to survive the night alone and find his way to be safe through a unknown area.This was a good film.It was solidly acted and it definitely provides a lot of thrills and excitement especially with the experiences of Hook as he tries to survive the night at Belfast.Aside from Hook,the viewer is also able to get a glimpse of how tough times are ahead during the so-called Troubles at Belfast in Northern Ireland.Jack O' Connell did well as Hook.No question that his performance was a good one as he was able to capture the emotional authenticity of his character to what he was going through on his own at Belfast.Overall,this part action thriller and part historical drama is worth viewing.

'71 is a decent movie with a reasonably well developed storyline and a terrific cast. The actors in this movie are small, but their performances certainly are not, Jack O' Connell features in one of his first major roles, his talent as an actor are very visible, he shows a vast amount of dedication to his character. It never really gets exciting, that was my main issue, I was never put at the edge of my seat, eyes glued to the screen anxiously, there's never really any big moments that will pull you in. I never felt truly concerned for Gary, one reason is because he was underdeveloped as a character, we learn very little about him throughout the movie, another being that he is never put in danger that we do not feel he can get himself out of, there's always a sense of hope, it's never too extreme. While the performances are strong, '71 lacks any real excitement that one would expect from a war film, and for that I could not recommend it. A young British soldier finds himself in deep trouble when he's separated from his unit in Belfast. Best Performance: Jack O'Connell

This British-made film was a tense, frightening but ultimately unbelievable watch. The story line is very simple, a young English soldier is pitched into Belfast at the height of the Troubles in 1971 and gets separated from his colleagues while they try to defuse a riot in the Catholic area of town. After a fellow-soldier he tries to assist is ruthlessly shot in the face and killed by a young Nationalist, he runs for his life ending up he knows not where, only that he's lost, in great danger at every turn and must get back safely to his company or risk the same fate as his mate.The sense of realism is palpable and you almost feel like you're watching an old TV newsreel of old, so true to life do the events seem. Most nights back in the early 70's, atrocities like this filled the evening news, so much so that they became less than shocking to so commonplace did they become. Belfast at the time was a divided city right down the Shanklands Road fault line, with young militants coming to the fore, feeling big with a gun in their hand, thinking themselves almost untouchable as they dispensed summary justice if that's the right phrase to young men doing their job, not much older than them and with no real feeling for the political issues of the day. Of course the Provisional IRA saw the British Army as an occupying force and so declared war on them, with the soldiers unable to take any sort of official retaliatory action. Where the film is very good is in its depiction of Belfast as a war-torn city. You share Jack O'Connell's young soldier's sense of displacement and rising terror as he tries to get back to base but bumps into various people who he doesn't know are friend or foe. Behind the scenes, the local police chief will do little to help the search and he and his second-in-command care nothing for the missing soldier's welfare. Corrupt and above the law, they're little different from the callous, cold-blooded gang they're pursuing.Although the action is gripping and gritty, I think the film took too much cinematic licence with the drama shown here, never more so than in the last-gasp rescue just when it seemed his luck had ran out, while some of the supporting characters seemed just too stereotypical, for example the young Loyalist boy who swears like a trooper and gives orders like he's the supremo rather than being his uncle's nephew. Later McConnell encounters a Protestant bomb team who bungle their task with devastating effects, a retired Protestant man and his teenage daughter who take him in and tend to his wounds and of course the young Catholic gang out for his blood.Strikingly realistic and unflinching in its depiction of violence, the film makes no judgement on the characters on both sides of the argument. There's not much political debate, just an "us and them" mentality fuelled by bloodlust and inbred hatred of the other side purely on religious grounds.This film was at times hard to watch as the scared and scarred soldier tries to make his escape through the sprawling housing estate at dead of night, but while the depiction was super-real, I just wasn't quite convinced that the events played out here could have actually occurred, especially with the cinematic licence taken at the climax. Nevertheless, it was extremely well acted and tellingly evocative of its time, it certainly brought back unwelcome memories of a terrible time one can only hope Northern Ireland has put behind it for good.