Flick of The Day: The Informer

Ireland has often been ill treated by Hollywood, from the various twee representations of a country that perhaps never really existed, to Tom Cruise, Julia Roberts and many other horrid attempts at an Irish accent, to the frankly insulting clichés in the likes of Leprachaun and its ilk. However, today's film The Informant is a somewhat more well judged interpretation of Ireland.

The Informer - Authentic Region 1 DVD from Warner Brothers with Victor McLaglen, Heather Angel, Preston Foster and Directed by JOHN FORD

Directed by the inimitable John Ford, The Informant is a classic tale, set in Dublin during the War of Independence. Gypo Nolan, played by an excellent Victor McLaglen, is a drunken Irish giant of a man with a child like understanding of the world around him.  Down on his luck in a fog filled Dublin, Gypo sees a wanted poster with a £20 reward for an old comrade in arms, initially torn as to what to do, he eventually decides to sell out his old friend to the British and use the money to escape to America. Of course his conscience begins to eat away at him and the films charts this course.

The film was a labour of love for John Ford, an Irishman in exile himself, legend has it that he forgoed his salary to see the film completed. The film revels in the kind of idealisation of romantic Ireland that only an ex patriot could muster. Dublin is permanently bathed in fog, ballad singers populate every street corner and whiskey is supped by the bottleful. The British are the worst of humanity and the IRA noble freedom fighters with religious devotion in their hearts. This doesn't grate as it might in the hands of a lesser film-maker then John Ford. It aids the telling of the tale. 

Mclaglen is excellent as Gypo, capturing the child like intellect yet brutish strength of the big lug. The story is filled with pathos for Gypo's deception is so obvious to all from the beginning. He is incapable of  seeing the true extent of his actions and yet does feel remorse. An audience can't help but empathise with the man and Mclaglen duly won an Oscar for his performance. 

What separates this film from other overtly twee representations of Ireland is the realism at its core. Ireland and its people have so often been betrayed by paid spies and informers from within their own ranks throughout its troubled history from the 1798 rebellion to independence. How different are the informers of those days from the corrupt system that has sold the country out to the IMF today? This story has a deep resonance and is as relevant now as it was upon its release.

An excellent film, backed by a strong leading performance and the peerless direction of John Ford, this is a must see for students of Irish Cinema and History. It has a fine script  with some great witty lines thrown in for good measure. A sad tale but even Gypo finds redemption.

"And now the British think I'm with the Irish, and the Irish think I'm with the British. The long and short of it is I'm walkin' around without a dog to lick my trousers!"