Amazon.com video review:
After scoring an art-house hit and Oscar nominations for his
previous film, My Left
Foot, Irish director Jim Sheridan made this ambitious and
hard-hitting drama, set in Ireland during the 1930s, about one man's
obsession with a plot of land that his family has tended for
generations. The results are decidedly mixed, and it's obvious that
this kind of tragic allegory is better suited for the stage (where it
originated as a play by John B. Keane). What makes the film worthwhile
is the Oscar-nominated performance by Richard Harris as "Bull" McCabe,
the fiercely stubborn man who's nurtured a prime field of rented land
for decades, only to lose it when the owner auctions the land to an
unwelcome American (Tom Berenger). Rather than sacrifice his life's
work to this brazen invader, McCabe wages a personal war with
powerfully tragic results. It's unfortunate that this potent drama
never really connects on an emotional level, but Harris is never less
than fascinating in a role that seems to virtually consume him as an
actor. His performance approaches greatness, even when the film falls
somewhat short of its dramatic ambitions. --Jeff Shannon
