An ordinary thief - Ordinary Decent Criminal
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | An ordinary thief - Ordinary Decent Criminal |
| Original title | Ordinary Decent Criminal |
| Country of production | UK , USA , Ireland , Germany |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2000 |
| length | 94 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Thaddeus O'Sullivan |
| script | Gerard Stembridge |
| production | Jonathan Cavendish |
| music | Damon Albarn |
| camera | Andrew Dunn |
| cut | William M. Anderson |
| occupation | |
| |
Ordinary Decent Criminal ( Ordinary Decent Criminal ) is a US-British-Irish-German crime comedy directed by Thaddeus O'Sullivan from 2000 .
action
Michael Lynch is the leader of a criminal gang operating in Dublin . His robberies and raids are always meticulously thought out and leave the police with hardly any usable evidence that could link him to the crime. In some cases the officers even serve as eyewitnesses for his supposed alibis , as they observed a Lynch doppelganger during the crime. At the beginning of the film, however, Lynch is confronted with a lawsuit, but this only prevents him from further attacks to a limited extent. For example, he stole money in a bank, which he used shortly afterwards as bail for the legal proceedings, and raided a social welfare office, where he was still in need a few moments earlier and had picked up his regular government support. The judicial proceedings finally end with an acquittal, among other things because of a threat against the presiding judge.
Lynch is married to Christine, but he also maintains a relationship with Christine's sister Lisa. These relationships and his disturbed relationship with the authorities go back to his time as a squatter. When all tenants of the house in which he also lived were given notice and their apartments were evicted, he and the two women barricaded each other and only gave up their resistance when the mayor on his knees offered them two houses for life as compensation. His robberies and media appearances therefore also serve to ridicule the authorities and especially police officers. Police officers like Noel Quigley, who goes to great lengths to convict Lynch.
His next big coup is the theft of a large amount of gold from a depot. While this proceeds as planned without incident, when the gold is smuggled, a fence is lost due to an accident. The original intention to steal this gold came from the IRA . But it never carried it out because, as Lynch mockingly states, they considered it too risky. But now this demands their share after Billy Lynch, Michael Lynch's brother, told them about it. However, Michael Lynch does not go into this blackmail. Instead, he rejects his traitorous brother and thinks about a media-effective crime that would make the IRA disappear from the front pages.
At that time, his wife Christine made him aware of the painting The Capture of Christ by the Italian painter Caravaggio . The robbery succeeds without any problems, and the hoped-for media response is not long in coming. Selling the famous painting turned out to be difficult , as is usual with art theft. In addition, the fence contacted is exposed as a police informant. The ongoing surveillance of every single member of the gang by the police seems to make it impossible to get rid of both the evidence and the police. Then Lynch single-handedly decides to exchange the painting for a faithful copy in a church. However, this does not end the surveillance , which is why his gang members no longer come to raids and run out of money.
In desperation, they want to go into a deal with the IRA, with 100,000 them pound has only a fraction of the estimated 30 million. The IRA is not interested in the picture, however, but wants to lure Lynch's gang into a trap and have them arrested by the police in order to regain the undivided attention of the press. Lynch suspects the trap and learns that the IRA is planning a bank robbery at the same time, while almost all police units in the city are after Lynch's gang and the fake painting. During the big showdown, the gang members who betray Lynch are shot by the police, and the copy of the painting is also destroyed.
Lynch, however, together with his last loyal companion Tony, disrupts the IRA bank robbery, takes the money from them and has them arrested. Finally, only he and the head of the IRA group remain in the bank, from which Lynch removes the mask and recognizes Jerome Higgins. Jerome, the initiator of the bank robbery, bears a certain resemblance to Lynch. He recognizes his chance to get out of the whole thing after all and sends Jerome out in his place. He provokes the police to an exchange of fire, in which Jerome is riddled with bullets beyond recognition.
During identification, Lynch's wife and her sister recognize the fraud, but do not show anything. The IRA man Jerome Higgins is buried as Michael Lynch while he travels through the country on his motorcycle and delights both relatives and his former rival Quigley in the police with postcards.
background
The film was shot in Dublin . Filming began on September 29, 1998 and ended in November 1998. The film had its world premiere on January 7, 2000 in Ireland. He was seen in the UK on March 17, 2000. It has been shown in 128 cinemas in the UK, grossing over £ 80,000 on the opening weekend. The film opened in cinemas in Germany on May 4, 2000. In Switzerland the film was released on July 6, 2000. In the USA, the film was released on DVD on January 21, 2003 . In Germany, the film was released on July 12, 2004 by Alive with an FKS-16 approval.
The story that Christin and Michael von Grogan heard about Caravaggio's discovery of the picture “The Capture of Christ” is true. In fact, the picture was discovered by accident while cleaning. It is currently on display at the National Gallery of Ireland . As an allusion to the title of the picture, Michael Lynch steals a picture in the film in which Jesus is kissed by Judas. In addition, the exhibition that is raided in the film is entitled "The Taking of Christ".
Originally, the film should be based closely on the life of Martin Cahill , a gangster from Dublin . After it became known that John Boorman was already making a film about him under the title The General , the film's script was rewritten. However, there are still some parallels in the script between the two films. A similar scene can be seen in both films, in which a gang member is tortured because it is assumed that they have embezzled jointly stolen prey. Both films also contain a scene that shows an attack on an exhibition in which several pictures are stolen. After all, the two women who star in both films are sisters.
Colin Farrell and Vincent Regan starred in the 2004 film Alexander .
synchronization
| actor | speaker | role |
|---|---|---|
| Colin Farrell | Dietmar miracle | Alec |
| Herbert Knaup | Herbert Knaup | De Heer |
| Stephen Dillane | Hans-Georg Panczak | Noel Quigley |
| Christoph Waltz | Christoph Waltz | Peter |
| David Hayman | Roland Hemmo | Tony Brady |
| Kevin Spacey | Reinhard Kuhnert | Michael Lynch |
| Peter Mullan | Torsten Michaelis | Stevie |
reception
The Lexicon of International Films wrote that the film was a “ free, mythical retelling of the life story of Irish gangster Martin Cahill, ” who appears in the film as Michael Lynch . In contrast to the film The General by John Boorman , " the biography would be neglected in favor of the larger-than-life stylization of the hero ", which "affects the relationships between people ". It remains a " partly amusing number revue, which demands too little of the actors to be convincing. "
The London magazine TimeOut wrote that the third film adaptation of the life story of Irish gangster Martin Cahill was " late " and was " superfluous ". It looks partly cartoon-like, partly like a " smear comedy ". Kevin Spacey is " ridiculously " miscast.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Internet Movie Database : Filming Locations , accessed August 14, 2007
- ^ A b Internet Movie Database: Budget and Box Office Results , accessed August 14, 2007
- ↑ a b c d e Internet Movie Database: Start Dates
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Internet Movie Database : Background information
- ↑ An Ordinary Thief - Ordinary Decent Criminal. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on February 24, 2012 .
- ↑ An Ordinary Thief - Ordinary Decent Criminal. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film Service , accessed August 14, 2007 .
- ↑ timeout.com: Movie review ( Memento of the original from September 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , NF, accessed August 14, 2007
