Michael Collins movie storyline. In 1922, Joe O’Reilly attempts to console Kitty Kiernan, who is mourning the death of Michael Collins. At the end of the Easter Rising in 1916, Collins, Harry Boland, Éamon de Valera, and other survivors surrender to the British Army.
As the Dublin Metropolitan Police’s “G” Division identifies the leaders, Collins tells Boland that next time, “We won’t play by their rules, Harry. We’ll invent our own.” All the other leaders die by firing squad, but de Valera, an American citizen, is imprisoned in England. Collins, Boland, and the others are sent to Frongoch internment camp.
After his release, Collins gives a speech at an election rally at the South Longford by-election, 1917. Collins is injured when the Royal Irish Constabulary break up the rally, but is rescued by Boland. While recovering on a friend’s farm, they meet Kitty, who begins a romance with Boland. Collins is tipped off by Detective Ned Broy that the British plan to arrest de Valera and his Cabinet. However, de Valera forbids anyone to go into hiding, stating that the ensuing public outcry will force their immediate release.
Only Collins and Boland escape arrest and imprisonment, and there are no protests. Boland and Collins travel to England and break de Valera out of Lincoln prison. Angry that Collins has overshadowed him, de Valera announces that he will travel to the United States to seek recognition from Woodrow Wilson, and orders Boland to accompany him. Before they depart, Collins suggests to Boland his belief that de Valera fears leaving them alone together.
Left in command, Collins orders the IRA to begin raiding police barracks for weapons. He also issues a statement that all collaboration with the British will be punished by death. Collins then recruits a squad from the IRA’s Dublin Brigade, which, on Bloody Sunday, assassinates fourteen British agents. In retaliation, the Black and Tans fire into the crowd at a Gaelic football match at Croke Park. Broy is caught burning documents, and is tortured and killed.
After returning from America empty-handed, de Valera decrees that the IRA must make a formal military attack on The Custom House. Collins argues that fighting conventionally will allow the British to win, but the Cabinet votes to support de Valera. The attack fails catastrophically, leaving six men dead and seventy captured. In the aftermath, Collins declares that the IRA can only hold out for a month. In private, he tells Boland that the IRA will be lucky to hold out for another week. To his surprise, however, the British soon call for a cease fire.
De Valera orders Collins to go to London to participate in negotiations with the British, despite Collins’s objections that he is not a diplomat. After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Treaty in December 1921, de Valera erupts upon learning that the terms have been published without his agreement. Collins argues that the Treaty gives them the freedom to achieve the Republic, albeit at the expense of six of the nine Ulster counties.
De Valera and his supporters resign in protest after the Dáil approves the Treaty 64–57. Both Collins and de Valera try to sway the Irish people in their respective directions. Collins is attacked by an anti-Treaty Republican during a rally, but escapes. In the aftermath, he successfully proposes to Kitty.
Michael Collins is a 1996 historical biopic written and directed by Neil Jordan and starring Liam Neeson as Michael Collins, the Irish patriot and revolutionary who died in the Irish Civil War. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival.
Michael Collins (1996)
Directed by: Neil Jordan
Starring: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman, Julia Roberts, Ian Hart, Ronan McCairbre, Mike Dwyer, Gary Whelan, Sean McGinley, Frank O’Sullivan
Screenplay by: Neil Jordan
Production Design by: Anthony Pratt
Cinematography by: Chris Menges
Film Editing by: Patrick Duffner, Tony Lawson
Costume Design by: Sandy Powell
Set Decoration by: Josie MacAvin
Art Direction by: Arden Gantly, Jonathan McKinstry, Malcolm Middleton, Cliff Robinson
Music by: Elliot Goldenthal
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language.
Distributed by: Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date: October 11, 1996
Hits: 88
