The Break — * * *

Critic: Brandon Judell

Stephen Rea, in such films as“The Crying Game” and “Michael Collins,” has been able to project inner angst like few other actors of his era. In his latest offering, he—as The New York Times’ Alan Riding so correctly words it, “again explores what happens to the soul of a person who devotes himself to a cause.”

He accomplishes this feat again by portraying an Irishman in turmoil.

Dowd (Rea) is in a Belfast prison for his IRA activities. It’s visiting day, and very cleverly the wives of inmates are slipping gun parts to their mates. A kiss will never be just a kiss again.

This is part and parcel of an IRA plan for a prison break that will occur almost immediately. Dowd is offered the choice of joining the breakout or . . . And he does.

He’s free again. Free to be politically involved and on the run——or possibly find a form of peace elsewhere. He opts for the latter. Life in the lower depths of New York City.

Washing dishes in the Big Apple along with a group of Guatemalan exiles doesn’t exactly have many high points. The despondent room he rents isn’t much better. But there is almost a peacefulness in his sad isolation. This is better than the other alternatives available to him. He appears as a man drawn to a void.

But then an incident occurs which forces Dowd to open himself up to the friendship of Tulio (Alfred Molina), a fellow worker. This leads to a relationship with Monica (Rosana Pastor), Tulio’s sister. Companionship. Love. What next could Gotham offer him?

Amidst the bliss, Dowd slowly realizes his new “family” and their friends are keeping a secret from him. Closed-door meetings. A gun in the closet. Slowly, he realizes they’re planning their own little political assassination, one of a man who viciously destroyed their lives back in their homeland.

But these “revolutionaries” are so inexperienced. It dawns on Dowd that either he has to talk his pals out of their dispatching plans or join them.

Powerfully acted by the cast and well directed by Robert Dornhelm, my only hesitation is with Ronan Bennett’s script which, though intelligent, is a bit too familiar. A bit too dank. But if you haven’t seen a film this month with an ex IRA hero, you won’t go wrong with “The Break.”

DIRECTOR: Robert Dornhelm
CAST: Stephen Rea, Alfred Molina, Rosana Pastor, Brendan Gleeson, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jorge Sanz, Frankie McCafferty, Sean McGinley, Paul Ronan, Richard Dormer

CO-PRODUCERS: Bonnie Timmermann, David Collins
PRODUCER: Chris Curling (Castle Hill Productions)
WRITER: Ronan Bennett
BASED UPON AN IDEA BY: Stephen Rea
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Michiyo Yoshizaki, Ulrich Felsberg, David Aukin
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Andrzej Sekula
EDITOR: Masahiro Hirakubo
MUSIC COMPOSED BY: Harald Kloser, Shaun Davey
RECEPTIONIST (DUBLIN): Doreen Morrissey
IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: Karen Sherman (Winston &Strawn)