Five Minutes of Heaven – Dir Oliver Hirschbiegel, starring James Nesbitt, Liam Neeson, Anamaria Marinca
It’s 1975 in Lurgan, Nothern Ireland. Civil war is under way with the IRA targeting Loyalists and the Ulster Volunteer Force exacting revenge on Catholics.
16 year old Alistair Little is the eager leader of a UVF cell. His gang are given the go-ahead to kill a young Catholic man, James Griffin, as a reprisal and a warning to others. James is shot in the head, his 11-year-old brother watching on in horror.
Thirty years later and Little has served his full prison sentence. He’s to meet Joe Griffin live on TV with a view to reconciliation. Unbeknown to the production team, Joe Griffin is after revenge, not peace.
Deliciously dark, tense and utterly thrilling, shot through with notions of revenge, grief, empathy and compassion and blessed with some superb acting. Five Minutes of Heaven is a must-see movie.
