NOTHING PERSONAL (1995) **1/2 I don't believe that they were shooting for cinematic realism but I'm not sure, and if so they missed. What they succeeded in is probably more important: they caught the dynamic, tragedy, and absurdity of the conflict in Northern Ireland. Painted with a brush that suffers, no one gets out decently, but only the Irish Republican Army is named. The others, I think, are Sinn Fein, maybe the Ulster Defense Association, and one of the moderate loyalist parties (i.e. not Ian Paisley's party). For a film, for actors, Rúaidhrí Conroy and James Frain both have some leading man stuff. Neither are consistent, nor do they have anything real to play off of. This isn't a problem for most of the great ones, but I can't imagine getting out of it myself. Strange scenes, ones where you don't particularly belong, leading to more of the same. But it's easy enough, always, in a situation like this, or a similar one, in which almost everything is wrong, to start naming names and say that you don't belong. Not even as a critic. And that's wrong. Some important things were established here, and maybe it's better to just say that someone else might build something from that. And leave it at that. I don't know. Never gone much for violence myself, nor for being ruled by jackasses.
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