Michael D. Miller
Prof. Mary McCay
4 May 2014
The
Devil’s Own v. Patriot Games
Ireland has endured a
long history of direct English and British rule over the island nation. An
insurgence of English and Scottish Protestant settlers in the 16th
and 17th century divided the country and removed catholic
landholders from their land and diluted their heritage. Catholics were banned
from the Irish Parliament and deemed second class citizens, even though they
accounted for the majority of the Irish population. The Irish rebelled against
British rule in the Easter uprising shortly before the outbreak of WWI.
However, the uprising was quickly subdued and its members surrendered to the
superior firepower of the British army. After the war of independence in 1922, the
country of Ireland was separated between the north, which remained under the
rule of the United Kingdom, and the south struggled to protect its own
independence. The country has withstood a history of turbulence and sporadic
violent uprisings as a protest to the ever present foreign rule. Ireland’s
economy has grown significantly in spite many years of repeatedly being pilfered
by England and Britain to the point of starvation and poverty among its people,
and the Catholics had risen to a more influential power for a brief moment in
time. However, the influence of the Catholic Church has been undermined by the
Irish people through growing distrust and lack of credibility, as well as the
effectiveness of the Catholic Church.
The IRA (Irish republican Army) was born out of the
Easter uprising in 1913, a violent uprising in protest of the British rule, and
has been known to engage in warfare waged by armed civilians. The PIRA (Provisional
Irish Republican Army) arrived many years later in the 1960s when the IRA split
over treatment of the Catholics in the north. The PIRA’s goal was to convince
the Irish of the north to pull away from the British government and to embrace
independence. The PIRA assumed the identity of the then defunct IRA and
continued to operate under its new found ideology. The Irish believe that
violently protesting any actions in which they feel they have been mistreated
or denied their culture is the best option in order to gain attention and
support to make effective changes. Such as the case of the Orange Order parade
held in Belfast on July 12th, 2013, when protesters clashed with
police over the threat by the parade commission who wanted to cancel the
parade. Protesters clashed with police causing a number of injuries to police
officers and a number of protesters were arrested. The government denounced the
violence and urged the youth to discontinue their actions as it will have
devastating effects on tourism and the world view of Ireland. The turmoil in
the Irish culture has spilled over into American culture by way of Hollywood
filmmakers.
The
two films that best reflect tumultuous Irish culture are the Patriot Games and The Devil’s Own. Both films highlight the militant side of the
Irish history as they reflect the extremes that members of the IRA and PIRA
will resort to, to accomplish their mission. These two films in which Harrison
Ford appears as a protagonist fighting against an Irish antagonist, who has a
deadly agenda to fulfill in the name of their countrymen; causes the protagonist
(Ford) to confront the issue head on in order to save lives. Each film focuses
on the Irish’s value of God, family, and country. These values are not unlike
those found in American history, however the histories of the two nations are
very different.
In
the film Patriot Games, Jack Ryan
(Harrison Ford) is forced into a deadly encounter with IRA members when he sees
masked terrorists converging on a car carrying the Royal family. Ryan quickly
moves in to first save his family and then acting out of instinct or possibly
his military training, engages the terrorist and thwarts the kidnapping. Ryan
kills Paddy Boy (Karl Hayden), Brother of Sean Miller (Sean Bean), during the
shootout. Sean Miller is captured and arrested. Sean Miller escapes custody and
vows to kill Jack Ryan and his family for Ryan murdering his brother. A failed
assassination attempt occurs outside of the university where Ryan is teaching
Naval academy students. Ryan quickly seeks out his wife and daughter, who he
believes are also in danger. Dr. Caroline Ryan (Anne Archer) is travelling on
the freeway with their daughter, Sally Ryan (Thora Birch), when a van pulls
alongside of them. Sean Miller is seen leaning out of the side door with an
automatic rifle. Mrs. Ryan sees the threat and takes evasive action; Miller
opens fire causing the Ryan family to crash into a road divider. Both Catherine
and Sally are seriously injured and taken to an area hospital. The actions of
Sean Miller cause Jack Ryan to return to the CIA.
The
script, which centers on Ryan being marked for death after he foils a terrorist
attack on a fictional relative of Queen Elizabeth by a renegade wing of the
I.R.A., had been amended from making Prince Charles and Princess Diana the
targets. The filmmakers felt this might actually inspire a real-life copycat
act of terrorism. (Pfeiffer 200)
1.
The
arrangement of the visual elements in the above scene taken from the film Patriot Games depicts the actions of the
character Sean Miller taking vengeance against Jack Ryan’s wife and daughter as
they travel down the freeway. The setting is a public setting the dominant
element is the muzzle flash coming from the barrel of the gun that is pointed
at the black Porsche. The angle of the camera is an over the shoulder shot from
behind the shooter at eye level. The colors of the two vehicles, the gun, and
the figure firing at the vehicle in the frame are all black with the brightest
background being the light colored road in which they are travelling. There is
very little density in the frame; in the foreground is the figure and the
weapon, the middle ground is the target vehicle, and the other vehicle and the
city skyline is in the background. All of the elements focus on the shooter and
the target vehicle. One would guess that the position of the shooter in
relation to the vehicle means certain death for the occupants. The vehicle is
black in color, a possible sign of mourning a potential sign of foreshadowing
of the events to come. However, the contrast of the light colored roadway
possibly signals hope and that the future is not necessarily set in death for
the Ryan family.
In
the film The Devil’s Own, Sergeant
Tom O’Meara (Harrison Ford) is a police officer in New York City. He is
perceived as a man unwavering in his qualities of honor, truth, and justice. Sgt.
O’Meara is friends with a local district judge who asks O’Meara to rent a room
to one of his “sponsored youths” from Ireland Francis “Frankie” Mcguire/Rory
Devaney (Brad Pitt). Rory is a member of the IRA and is fleeing Ireland after a
shootout with British SAS officers. Rory is wanted for murder and terrorizing
in his homeland. While in hiding, Rory hears a helicopter outside that appears
to be searching for him. He believes that if they can “take out” those
helicopters, they can move more freely throughout the country. Rory then
travels to the United States in order to purchase Stinger missiles, which he
intends to bring back to Ireland to continue the fight. He gains support from
the Irish Judge in the form of money and arranges the purchase of the Stinger
missiles through an Irish mobster Billy Burke (Treat Williams). However,
throughout Rory’s stay with the O’Meara’s he is treated like family and he too
returns the affection. Rory thwarts a home invasion by masked men when he
returns to discover that Tom and his wife are being attacked in the middle of
the day. Tom notices that only Rory’s basement apartment has been tossed by the
assailants and he soon discovers a duffle bag filled with cash under the floor
board of the bathroom. Tom confronts Rory and arrests him. While in route to
the jail Rory escapes and kills Officer Edwin Diaz (Ruben Blades), thus
branding him a cop killer in the United States.
2.
The essential elements of the antagonist Francis
“Frankie” McGuire/Rory Devaney (Brad Pitt) in the scene that depicts his escape
and shooting Officer Edwin “Eddy” Diaz are the blonde hair of the character.
It’s almost angelic as it flows around his face. The obvious element is that he
is pointing a gun. The framing is tight in the character of Rory with his black
clothing, lending to his villainous nature. The background is bright with
natural lighting, tends to influence the viewer that the nature of the
character’s cause is noble in purpose. The staging position is a frontal with
the character facing the camera, with eye-level angle in a social setting. The
scene depicts the intensity of the character in his pursuit of his ultimate
goal, to stop at nothing to accomplish his mission for his countrymen.
In each of the films Patriot
Games and The Devil’s Own, the
protagonist Ryan (Ford) and O’Meara (Ford) are committed to put an end to the
antagonists’ delivery of destruction to society. The antagonist Miller (Bean)
and Rory (Pitt) have, by their actions, have caused the protagonist (Ford) to become
involved in derailing their terrorist activities. There has always been a fight
between good and evil, however the antagonists do not believe that they are
evil, they believe in their cause is a fight for independence from the
centuries of oppression of the Irish people. They believe that violence is the
only way to fight the oppression and to bring together all of Ireland and break
away from British and English influences. The antagonist would view themselves
as freedom fighters, revolutionaries much like the founding fathers of the
Unites States. However, the turmoil in the United States and the break from
foreign rule was rather quick and decisive. This is certainly not the case with
the country of Ireland. The English, Scottish, and British have laid claim to
the island country and remained a part of Ireland’s history for many years. If
Ireland could unite, as the antagonist had hoped, and rebel against foreign
influence and become and independent sovereign nation, then the country and its
people could live under their own rules and possibly for the first time in
history live in peace.
Works
Cited
Pfeiffer, L. and
Michael Lewis. The Films of Harrison
Ford. Third Edition. New
York:
Citadel Press. 2002. Print.
http://www.imfdb.org/wiki/Patriot_Games.
Accessed on Saturday, May 03, 2014. Image 1. Web.
http://www.buzzsugar.com/photo-gallery/25879653/Devil-Own-1997.
Accessed on Saturday,
May
03, 2014. Image 2. Web.
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