N.B. Spoilers within. It's hard to do justice to this modern masterpiece. Let me get this out of the way: "The Twist." The whole issue is a real shame to me; viewers should just stick to the complexities of the story and characters, and not as the marketers selling the film would soon glom onto a twist. To think that this would go on to nearly define for the world Neil Jordan's incredible movie! (Along with this, the "I-could-see-it-coming-a-mile-away" attitude...give me a break and just suspend some disbelief.) It doesn't matter now: the poignancy and importance of what Fergus (Stephen Rea) and Dil (Jaye Davidson) experience in this film have given it staying power.
But let's start at the beginning, in Northern Ireland and the IRA, and the kidnapping of British officer Jody (the very solid Forest Whitaker). Here Fergus shows his true colors as a man, befriending Jody his hated enemy and proving himself something of a human beyond the sworn duties of his terrorist associations. This first 35 minutes of the film will indelibly imprint on everything that happens thereafter. Fergus's bonding with Jody cannot be helped because of who the two men are even as it complicates the emotions between them. The essential story narrated by Jody of the scorpion and the frog serves as background metaphor for the rest of the story: "I can't help it it's in my nature." Jody's revealing to Fergus of his distant lover Dil (why did he do it? To pre-avenge the terrorist acts happening to him? Out of pure love and sharing?) lights a fuse for the rest of the film, too. IRA activist and lover of Fergus, Jude (Miranda Richardson) proves herself tough in these opening sequences, but is nothing like the Valkyrie she will emerge as in Act III. Jody is unfortunately dispatched early from the picture, but the damage is done: his work on Fergus's psyche has been cemented.
Fergus departs the IRA holdout, now in smithereens, and heads to London, where he becomes Jimmy. He looks up Dil, heavy with the knowledge of how complicit he was in Jody's fate. This, too, takes a constant place in the storyline and must always be kept in mind. (Stephen Rea wears his burdens in the way he talks, walks, breathes: he and Davidson are incredible.) Dil seems to be able to take care of herself just fine (dumping the the dufus Dave, for example), but once she meets Jimmy she falls in love. The feelings are mutual. At the club where Dil performs, bartender Col (a smooth and perfectly knowing Jim Broadbent) mediates the tentative relations between grieving Dil and searching Jimmy/Fergus.
So, the decisive moment: the big reveal. Dil says honestly, "I thought you knew." And later (with the film's many touches of grim humor): "Even while you were throwing up, I could tell you cared." Fergus has another dream about Jody afterward: now Jody is not pitching (i.e. sharing) a cricket ball, but strolling away with a smirk and a genuine sense of revenge. But Fergus needn't worry: one of the great themes in this movie is the way he can't help but stick with Dil, no matter who she has turned out to be. It's all about Fergus's (and Dil's) huge capacity for love, which has become far more universal.
All comes together breathlessly in the final Act. Jude & co. show up in London and re-recruit Fergus to the cause, an important assassination. Now Jude is ruthless and jealously knows of Dil and Fergus. It's incredibly touching when Fergus shears and disguises Dil to save her life: he has put her in harm's way. (One leitmotif in this movie is the music that accompanies the intimate moments between Fergus and Dil a little sugary but very effective.) When Fergus FINALLY reveals to Dil his relationship with Jody, she is too drugged to fully grasp. But soon she will get it, in spades. The collision between love stories and terrorist plot is unforgettable. Jude is unprepared for the emotional force wielded by the liberated Dil, whose feelings for Jody come to the fore as she has learned of how Jude seduced Jody to his capture in Ireland.
Now that Dil's secret is out (in the real world), the viewer must be fair to the film and *always* keep him/herself in Fergus and Dil's heads. Their points of view are crucial to taking this film on its own grounds. This is one of the most powerful and intelligent films I've ever seen; a thriller combined with multi-layered love stories. Jordan et. al. have created an utterly absorbing and memorable tale.
But let's start at the beginning, in Northern Ireland and the IRA, and the kidnapping of British officer Jody (the very solid Forest Whitaker). Here Fergus shows his true colors as a man, befriending Jody his hated enemy and proving himself something of a human beyond the sworn duties of his terrorist associations. This first 35 minutes of the film will indelibly imprint on everything that happens thereafter. Fergus's bonding with Jody cannot be helped because of who the two men are even as it complicates the emotions between them. The essential story narrated by Jody of the scorpion and the frog serves as background metaphor for the rest of the story: "I can't help it it's in my nature." Jody's revealing to Fergus of his distant lover Dil (why did he do it? To pre-avenge the terrorist acts happening to him? Out of pure love and sharing?) lights a fuse for the rest of the film, too. IRA activist and lover of Fergus, Jude (Miranda Richardson) proves herself tough in these opening sequences, but is nothing like the Valkyrie she will emerge as in Act III. Jody is unfortunately dispatched early from the picture, but the damage is done: his work on Fergus's psyche has been cemented.
Fergus departs the IRA holdout, now in smithereens, and heads to London, where he becomes Jimmy. He looks up Dil, heavy with the knowledge of how complicit he was in Jody's fate. This, too, takes a constant place in the storyline and must always be kept in mind. (Stephen Rea wears his burdens in the way he talks, walks, breathes: he and Davidson are incredible.) Dil seems to be able to take care of herself just fine (dumping the the dufus Dave, for example), but once she meets Jimmy she falls in love. The feelings are mutual. At the club where Dil performs, bartender Col (a smooth and perfectly knowing Jim Broadbent) mediates the tentative relations between grieving Dil and searching Jimmy/Fergus.
So, the decisive moment: the big reveal. Dil says honestly, "I thought you knew." And later (with the film's many touches of grim humor): "Even while you were throwing up, I could tell you cared." Fergus has another dream about Jody afterward: now Jody is not pitching (i.e. sharing) a cricket ball, but strolling away with a smirk and a genuine sense of revenge. But Fergus needn't worry: one of the great themes in this movie is the way he can't help but stick with Dil, no matter who she has turned out to be. It's all about Fergus's (and Dil's) huge capacity for love, which has become far more universal.
All comes together breathlessly in the final Act. Jude & co. show up in London and re-recruit Fergus to the cause, an important assassination. Now Jude is ruthless and jealously knows of Dil and Fergus. It's incredibly touching when Fergus shears and disguises Dil to save her life: he has put her in harm's way. (One leitmotif in this movie is the music that accompanies the intimate moments between Fergus and Dil a little sugary but very effective.) When Fergus FINALLY reveals to Dil his relationship with Jody, she is too drugged to fully grasp. But soon she will get it, in spades. The collision between love stories and terrorist plot is unforgettable. Jude is unprepared for the emotional force wielded by the liberated Dil, whose feelings for Jody come to the fore as she has learned of how Jude seduced Jody to his capture in Ireland.
Now that Dil's secret is out (in the real world), the viewer must be fair to the film and *always* keep him/herself in Fergus and Dil's heads. Their points of view are crucial to taking this film on its own grounds. This is one of the most powerful and intelligent films I've ever seen; a thriller combined with multi-layered love stories. Jordan et. al. have created an utterly absorbing and memorable tale.