’71 (2014) Review!!

Synopsis – A young and disoriented British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the deadly streets of Belfast in 1971.

My Take – Set against the complex backdrop of the beginnings of Northern Ireland in 1971 this is an extremely well made thriller. Sent into the front-line urban warfare, Hook’s regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Armitage (Sam Reid) is quickly bombarded with a small public outrage. Then quickly followed by one of the most realistic, violent and dramatic riots that has ever appeared in film. The story of a young soldier Gary Hook recently deployed to Northern Ireland who finds himself out of his dept when going on his first patrol thanks to the incompetence of his CO (Sam Reid) & soon separated from his unit and lost in a city he doesn’t know he’s forced in a fight for survival as a lone-wolf in the devilish-toned IRA hostile territory as its hard to tell who is friend and who is foe in this extremely well written piece of drama.

All quickly intensifies to an incredible Bourne-style chase through the streets of terror; what with the cars alight at each corner, crisp cinematography – everything feels authentic. The plot was not confined to the story of a lone soldier lost in a strange and hostile city, but luckily went a few steps further by bringing up the topic of good versus bad and who to trust if someone is offering to help. You never knew which side someone is on, and whether there is a hidden agenda or not, in spite of showing interest in your well being and offering to help you out of a situation you can impossibly cope up with. The main action takes place among the dim streets & the dull creepy looking concrete blocks of ‘social’ housing, all washed with rain and lit by the eerie glow of neon street-lights. The writer here has taken care not to paint one side entirely good or bad and that is how it was. Wounded and armed with nothing but a knife Hook has enemies closing in from all sides as the film draws to a bloody climax.

The camera-work is also quite brilliant; for example, as Hook staggers and stumbles through the streets the camera staggers and stumbles with him, carrying us right into the action. Everything combines to yield an absolutely convincing depiction of human lives reduced to something ‘nasty, brutish and short’. Led by Jack O’Connell (Starred Up, 300 Rise of An Empire), his performance is uncanny & relate able. Co-starring alongside, Sean Harris and Paul Anderson play undercover superiors, yet are as corrupt as Bad Lieutenant. It’s also the feature debut of Yann Demange who handles the material, while paying homage to Paul Greengrass. He has crafted the thriller elements superbly in such a way, the audience is forced to indulge the proceedings taking place. On the whole the best thing about ’71 is on point as everything is there for a reason, and it shows on screen & Jack O’Connell prospers and carries the film even when it is unneeded and secures it as one of this year’s best shocking, gripping and captivating thrillers.