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In the Name of the Father (1993)

tomatometer

89

Average Rating: 7.4/10
Critic Reviews: 9
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 1

No consensus yet.

audience

92

liked it
Average Rating: 4/5
User Ratings: 37,469

My Rating

Movie Info

The My Left Foot team of star Daniel Day-Lewis and director Jim Sheridan were reunited to make this political docudrama about Irish citizen Gerry Conlon (Day-Lewis), who was wrongly convicted of taking part in an IRA bombing that killed five in Guildford, England in 1974. After a brutal interrogation forces him to sign a false confession, Gerry is sentenced to prison, his family is raked over the coals, and later his father Giuseppe (Pete Postelthwaite) is charged with being an accomplice and is

R, 2 hr. 13 min.

Drama

Jul 7, 1998

Universal Pictures

Cast

All Critics (39) | Top Critics (9) | Fresh (37) | Rotten (2) | DVD (2)

By the end of the movie, whether or not you're a member of Sinn Fein, the Brits' brutality toward the Conlons will get your Irish up.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: TIME Magazine | Comment
TIME Magazine
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[Sheridan] works with such piercing fervor and intelligence that In the Name of the Father just about transcends its tidy moral design.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Entertainment Weekly | Comment
Entertainment Weekly
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Miscarried justice often provides the vehicle for emotionally wrenching drama and histrionic fireworks, and such is the case in spades with In the Name of the Father.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Variety | Comment
Variety
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The acting's so good it frequently transcends the simplicities of the script, and whenever Day-Lewis or Postlethwaite is on-screen the movie crackles.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | Comment
Chicago Reader
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The film offers layers of dramatic detail for those who might be confused at points but teased to inquire further.

May 21, 2003 Full Review Source: New York Times | Comment
New York Times
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The brilliance of Jim Sheridan's motion picture is that we come to view every event from the perspective of how it impacts on the relationship between Gerry and his father, in whose name the final struggle is fought.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: ReelViews | Comment
ReelViews
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In this powerful, Oscar-nominated movie, Jim Sheridan infuses a fact-based social injustice drama with a more intimate family tale of estranged father and son, splendidly played by Daniel Day-Lewis and Peter Postlethwaite.

March 25, 2009 Full Review Source: EmanuelLevy.Com | Comment

Sheridan takes a controversial subject and gives it wider appeal by focusing on the family drama of two men who are also political prisoners.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | Comment
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Letter-perfect performances from Day-Lewis and Postlethwaite do a lot more than a dozen editorials to make an unforgettable point about the miscarriage of justice.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | Comment
Empire Magazine

Director Sheridan chronicles the father-son relationship perfectly and also handles the courtroom confrontations skilfully without ever falling into movie melodramatics.

March 11, 2008 Full Review Source: Film4 | Comment

Sheridan's movie seeks to engage and enrage. It's not, however, a film with an ideological axe to sharpen, but one which unfolds, with a sense of passionate conviction, a story of injustice.

June 24, 2006 Full Review Source: Time Out | Comment

Passionate true-story about an Irish youth who was wrongfully convicted of a terrorist act.

December 3, 2005 Full Review Source: Ozus' World Movie Reviews | Comment
Ozus' World Movie Reviews

Daniel Day-Lewis gives one of his greatest performances, disappearing into the character the way he did in My Left Foot and A Room With a View.

January 15, 2005 Comment
Looking Closer

I miss Day-Lewis in films.

July 16, 2004 Comment
FilmsInReview.com
More Critic Reviews

Audience Reviews for In the Name of the Father

I dont need to say much, i'm a sucker for anything regarding the struggles of Northern Ireland and The Troubles. What makes this film particularly unsettling are the parallels between the Guildford Four and the West Memphis Three. Also, if you love a good over-the-top but still powerful performance, Daniel Day delivers

December 20, 2011
axadntpron
Reid Volk

Super Reviewer

Superlative drama, about a group of Irishmen wrongfully imprisoned as terrorists in 1970's England. As is ever the case with him, Daniel Day-Lewis exhibits a tour-de-force performance, that leaves one genuinely gripped. Joined by esteemed thespians like Emma Thompson and the late Pete Postlethwaite, there is excellent

July 22, 2007
CloudStrife84
Mike S

Super Reviewer

    1. Gerald Conlon: I'm a free man, and I'm going out the front door.
    – Submitted by Martin H (6 months ago)
    1. Gerald Conlon: I'm an innocent man. I spent 15 years in prison for something I didn't do. I watched my father die in a British prison for something he didn't do. And this government still says he's guilty. I want to tell them that until my father is proved innocent, until all the people involved in this case are proved innocent, until the guilty ones are brought to justice, I will fight on. In the name of my father and of the truth!
    – Submitted by Martin H (6 months ago)

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Latest News for In the Name of the Father

January 4, 2011:
Remembering Pete Postlethwaite
Over the course of his distinguished career, Pete Postlethwaite delivered plenty of memorable...

January 3, 2011:
Pete Postlethwaite: 1946-2011
Oscar-nominated actor Pete Postlethwaite, whose prolific career included roles in more than 40...

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Foreign Titles

  • Im Namen des Vaters (DE)
  • In the Name of the Father (1998) (UK)
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