50 Dead Men Walking - The Spy
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| German title | 50 Dead Men Walking - The Spy |
| Original title | Fifty Dead Men Walking |
| Country of production |
United Kingdom of Canada |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 2008 |
| length | 117 minutes |
| Age rating | FSK 16 |
| Rod | |
| Director | Kari Skogland |
| script | Kari Skogland |
| production | Kari Skogland Stephen Hegyes Peter La Terriere Shawn Williamson |
| music | Ben Mink |
| camera | Jonathan Freeman |
| cut | Jim Munroe |
| occupation | |
| |
50 Dead Men Walking - The Spy (Alternative title: The Spy - 50 Dead Men Walking ; Original Title: Fifty Dead Men Walking ) is a British - Canadian agent thriller by Kari Skogland , which takes place in the Northern Ireland conflict. The model was based on the autobiography of Martin McGartland , agent of the British secret service. The Canadian director wrote the script herself. Jim Sturgess and Ben Kingsley can be seen in the leading roles .
action
1988: The unemployed Martin McGartland makes a living in Belfast selling stolen goods. Like almost all young Irish people in the district, he revolted against the British occupiers and got caught up in the maelstrom of the independence movement. He is recruited as a chauffeur by the local IRA fighters. Their senseless acts of violence then gradually begin to burden his conscience.
The British secret service also shows interest in the young man. Since McGartland is not yet completely radicalized, the secret service employee Fergus offers him a cooperation in the context of an espionage activity. Initially refusing, Martin soon provided information from the circle of underground fighters. Since the IRA assassinations fail in a row due to McGartland's betrayal, a leak is being sought in the organization. McGartland himself is not suspected, but has to watch the torture of an innocent comrade, which again weighs heavily on his conscience. Finally he gets the order from the security chief of the IRA to execute the alleged traitor. He aims at the torture victim with trembling hands, but cannot manage to pull the trigger. His buddy Sean jumps to the rescue and does the job without further ado. McGartland nevertheless rises to the next higher rank of the organization. From now on he is allowed to accompany the IRA agent Grace.
An IRA member of the lowest rank is killed in the course of an arms delivery from the Libyans. Martin is angry about the execution by British police officers. Fergus makes it clear to him that smaller sacrifices have to be made to avoid greater damage.
Martin receives information that his buddy Sean distrusts him, since attacks that Martin was informed about repeatedly fail. And there is also an argument with his partner Lara, mother of his son Patrick. Despite her best efforts, Martin's contacts with the IRA have not gone unnoticed, and she is tired of living with danger.
Only Grace and Martin have knowledge of the next planned terrorist attack - if the British police prevent it, Martin will be a traitor. So Fergus wants to see to it that Martin and his family - Lara is pregnant again - can then go into hiding. When Grace's pistol, which she received from Martin a few days earlier, proves to be unusable in a defense situation, he is blown. Everyone now knows that he is an informer for the British. The MI5 officer in charge tells Fergus that he has no interest in McGartland's rescue. Fergus then acts on his own to get Martin to safety. Martin is picked up by his IRA comrades in his mother's apartment, kidnapped and tortured in a prefabricated building . But he can jump out of the window of the apartment in an unobserved moment. Fergus finds him badly injured in front of the house and has an ambulance come.
A short fade-in shows a secret meeting between Fergus' superior and the security guard of the IRA. Both look very familiar, so they have been in contact for a long time. Here, too, the Brit makes it unmistakably clear that he has no interest in McGartland's survival.
As soon as Martin can walk again, Fergus takes him to his private house. There they advise on how to proceed. Martin decides not to live with Lara and the children in order to enable them to lead a largely normal life. He himself travels to a hiding place in Canada. In 1999 he was exposed and shot down. He survived the attack, but has been on the run ever since, with regular name changes.
background
In addition to the Northern Irish capital Belfast , the close coastal towns of Ardglass and Killough were used as film locations. The film premiered on September 10, 2008 at the International Film Festival in Toronto, Canada . On June 2, 2009, the soundtrack composed by Ben Mink was released.
The title of the film refers to McGartland's statement that his espionage activities saved the lives of at least 50 people who were believed to be the target of the IRA. He distances himself from the film:
“The best way I can explain it in basic, blunt terms, is it's as near to the truth as Earth is to Pluto. If a film is loosely based on someone's life story, how does the audience know what's true and what's fiction? "
“To put it in simple terms: The film is as close to the truth as the earth is on the planet Pluto. If a film is loosely based on a person's life story, how can the audience know what is reality and what is fiction? "
criticism
The lexicon of international films found that the film was a “top-class cast and grippingly staged preparation of an authentic case”.
literature
- Martin McGartland, Nicholas Davies: Fifty Dead Men Walking. 1997, ISBN 1-85782-178-5 .
- Martin McGartland: Dead Man Running. Mainstream Publishing, Edinburgh 1999, ISBN 0-8038-2005-4 .
Web links
- 50 Dead Men Walking - The spy in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- 50 Dead Men Walking - The Spy atRotten Tomatoes(English)
- 50 Dead Men Walking - The spy in the German dubbing file
Individual evidence
- ↑ Release certificate for 50 Dead Men Walking - The Spy . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , July 2009 (PDF; test number: 118 803 V).
- ↑ Filming locations in the IMDb
- ↑ Start dates in the IMDb
- ↑ www.moviescoremedia.com
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/371544.stm "The title was chosen ..."
- ↑ Is 'Fifty Dead Men Walking' really based on truth? ( Memento from May 4, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ 50 Dead Men Walking - The Spy. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed May 3, 2014 .