Grade: A-
In the Name of the Father is at its core, a father-son movie, a romantic masterpiece for men. I'm not usually a fan of anything with a "based on a true story tagline," but this is the rare exception when great acting carries a weak script and "true story" pitfalls.
Daniel Day Lewis plays Gerry Conlin, a petty thief who was wrongly accused for an act of terrorism in the UK. And in the same vein as Shawshank, he is imprisoned for life. Except this time, his father is one of the co-conspirators. It may not leave the same legacy as Tim Robbins as Andy Dufresne, but it sure comes close. One could argue Lewis had a tougher role. Whereas Dufresne is a model citizen that is never broken down by a maximum security prison, Conlin is immature and young, passionate and honest, human. We see his growth from disobedient boy to a man carrying the burden and the joy of his father's name.
It never made me want to call my daddy and tell him that I love him. But a sense of Irish pride or male pride or family pride rises up in me, achieving almost the same thing as Braveheart -- the kind of movie men dream about but only get once every couple of years.
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