Film Reviews

Veronica Guerin

• Rating:
• Director: Joel Schumacher.
• Starring: Cate Blanchett, Brenda Fricker, Ciaran Hinds, Gerard McSorley, Barry Barnes, Paudge Behan, Alan Devine, Don Wycherley, Paul Ronan, Garrett Keogh, Mark Lambert, Colin Farrell.
• Details: US / 100 mins / (15PG).

Given Hollywood's penchant for artistic licence, Veronica Guerin: The Movie was never likely to escape unmolested by the mythmakers. What is a little surprising and disappointing, however, is the extent to which liberties have been taken. In an arresting performance, Cate Blanchett plays the Sunday Independent journalist, murdered in June 1996. The film is book-ended with her assassination, but the action soon drifts back to her decision to move into crime writing after she visits an inner city complex, riddled with heroin. From here, Guerin vows to expose the city's narcotic cartels, even if those involved with the distribution of drugs will do anything to stop her. Veronica Guerin is a movie told in fierce shades of black and white, leaving no room for moral ambiguity when it comes to the protagonists. Discrepancies are frequent. John Gilligan (played with a one-dimensional viciousness by Gerald McSorley) is fashioned into a one size fits all bad guy. The filmmakers strongly imply that he was responsible for pretty much all of the smack on Dublin's streets, while he's inexplicably fingered as the killer of Martin 'The General' Cahill, despite the IRA claiming responsibility. Unfortunately these are plenty of other inaccuracies. Although it's pacy enough and reasonably well acted (aside from a ludicrous cameo from the ubiquitous Colin Farrell), Veronica Guerin is too slight with characterisation and its selective attitude when it comes to the facts greatly undermines the film's ultimate impact.

Review by Garreth Murphy