Flick of The Day: Angel

Neil Jordan has for many years been regarded as one of Ireland's most talented directors, with a diverse body of work to back this up. Always seeming to follow his own path, he has created work as different as  the dark journey into the London underworld of Mona Lisa to the historical epic sweep of Michael Collins and the downright oddity of Breakfast on Pluto. Of course this path started somewhere and in Jordan's case it was this  little drama set in the dark days of the Troubles. Today's flick of the day is Angel.

Angel

An impossibly young looking Stephen Rea stars as Danny, a dreamer saxophone player in a travelling show band. One night after another gig in a small ballroom in a border town, Danny encounters a young mute girl and whiles away the evening with her. That night, the local loyalist paramilitaries murder Danny's manager as part of a protection racket. The young girl inadvertently witnesses the killing and is gunned down while Danny hides in the shadows. Riddled with guilt and determined to get revenge, Danny sets out to track down the killers one by one. As this murderous revenge takes hold of him, Danny finds himself becoming as obsessive and dangerous as the man he is tracking.

There is perhaps no darker period in Ireland's troubled history then the 1980's. The armed conflict in Northern Ireland raged on seemingly without end and an economic malaise forced its best and brightest to emigrate. It is this setting in which Jordan creates perhaps his darkest film. The opening scenes at the rural film are shot with a particular naturalism and are perhaps the strongest section of the film. The events of that night define the rest of the film as they define Danny. The violence of the Northern Irish troubles is hinted at but this really isn't a political film. The bad guys could be from either side, it makes no difference. Effectively, this is an insight into the deadening effect violence can have on people. Danny starts out as a happy go lucky musician and ends the film as a homicidal psychotic every bit as dangerous as the man he tracks. 

In this complex role, Rea gives the best performance of his career. In Danny, he creates a character who undergoes a metamorphosis as striking as anything seen on Irish screens to date, unravelling over the course of the film. Rea is joined in a fine cast by some great Irish acting names like Ray McAnally and Gerard McSorley. While not a film that is an enjoyable watch, it is a taut and twisting drama that makes no bones about being a bleak portrayal of an Ireland that has thankfully long since disappeared into the mists. 

Both Neil Jordan and Stephen Rea would see their careers blossom from this movie with Jordan managing to strike a balance between independent work of artistic merit and the Hollywood ethic of making money. Rea, meanwhile has forged a career as a strong character actor who is always in demand and it is amazing to think he was 36 when this film was shot in 1982. All in all, this is a classic of Irish cinema and cultural touchstone of a time and place.