The picture turns into a kind of stylized morality play about the right and the wrong ways for Irishmen to respond to distorted portraits of their character, and it's terrifically effective.
In the Name of the Father
✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ Read critic reviews
Ireland, United Kingdom, United States · 1993
Rated R · 2h 13m
Director Jim Sheridan
Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson, John Lynch
Genre Drama
Add to Watchlist
Please login to add films to your watchlist.
Gerry, a small-time thief from Belfast, is falsely implicated in the IRA bombing of a pub that killed several people. He and his friends are coerced by British police into confessing their guilt, and Gerry spends 15 years in prison while his father tries to prove his innocence.
What are people saying?
What are critics saying?
Washington Post by Desson Thomson
In the Name of the Father is as good a compromise of fact and fiction as you could hope for -- and still call it a movie.
ReelViews by James Berardinelli
Jim Sheridan skillfully interweaves a myriad of subplots and themes into a fast-paced, cohesive whole.
Chicago Reader by Jonathan Rosenbaum
But 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.
Entertainment Weekly by Owen Gleiberman
Sheridan, however, works with such piercing fervor and intelligence that In the Name of the Father just about transcends its tidy moral design.
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.
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) by Rick Groen
He gets much of what he wants, but not all of it, and not all of the time - the film is just too eclectic on occasion, a bit jumpy in its tone and its pacing.
Chicago Sun-Times by Roger Ebert
The movie does a harrowing job of showing how, and why, a man might be made to confess to a bombing he didn't commit.
Users who liked this film also liked
Jellyfish
(Meduzot)
Three women—waitress, a new bride, and a caretaker—each with their own quiet triumphs and tragedies.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Israel, France • 2007
- Director Shira Geffen, Etgar Keret
- Cast Sarah Adler, Shosha Goren, Tsipor Aizen, Bruria Albeck, Ilanit Ben-Yaakov, Assi Dayan
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on Kanopy
My Left Foot: The Story of Christy Brown
The true story of an Irishman born with cerebral palsy who learns to use his left foot to paint and write.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Ireland, United Kingdom • 1989
- Director Jim Sheridan
- Cast Daniel Day-Lewis, Brenda Fricker, Alison Whelan, Declan Croghan, Eanna MacLiam
- Genre Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, MGM Plus, fuboTV, Paramount Plus, Paramount+ Amazon Channel, MGM Plus Amazon Channel, Paramount+ Roku Premium Channel, Showtime Apple TV Channel, Paramount Plus Apple TV Channel , Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, Amazon Video, Microsoft Store, YouTube, AMC on Demand, Amazon Prime Video with Ads
I Want Candy
They're making a movie... And it's gone pear-shaped!
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- United Kingdom • 2007
- Director Stephen Surjik
- Cast Tom Riley, Tom Burke, Carmen Electra, Eddie Marsan, Michelle Ryan, Mackenzie Crook
- Genre Drama, Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
The Power of One
An exhilarating epic of a triumph of the heart.
- ✭ ✭
- Australia, France, United States • 1992
- Director John G. Avildsen
- Cast Morgan Freeman, Stephen Dorff, Simon Fenton, Guy Witcher, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Alois Moyo
- Genre Drama
- Available on Hulu, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Microsoft Store, YouTube, Plex
Killer 2
(Kiler-ów 2-óch)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Poland • 1999
- Director Juliusz Machulski
- Cast Cezary Pazura, Janusz Rewiński, Małgorzata Kożuchowska, Katarzyna Figura, Jolanta Fraszyńska, Jan Englert
- Genre Comedy, Action
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Game of Four
(Détrompez-vous)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France • 2007
- Director Bruno Dega
- Cast François Cluzet, Mathilde Seigner, Roschdy Zem, Alice Taglioni
- Genre Comedy
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Yol
The story of three families' search for freedom
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Switzerland • 1982
- Director Yılmaz Güney, Şerif Gören
- Cast Tarık Akan, Halil Ergün, Meral Orhonsay, Necmettin Çobanoğlu, Sevda Aktolga, Şerif Sezer
- Genre Drama, Romance
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Rebels of the Neon God
(青少年哪吒)
A lonely young man recently dropped out of school wanders the streets of Taipei in search of something.
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Taiwan • 1992
- Director Tsai Ming-liang
- Cast Chen Chao-jung, Lee Kang-Sheng, Lu Yi-Ching, Miao Tien, Jen Chang-bin
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on MUBI Amazon Channel, OVID, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Vudu, YouTube, Kanopy
In the Name of the Italian People
(In nome del popolo italiano)
- ✭ ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy • 1971
- Director Dino Risi
- Cast Ugo Tognazzi, Vittorio Gassman, Ely Galleani, Yvonne Furneaux, Michele Cimarosa, Renato Baldini
- Genre Comedy, Crime, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Elles
A journalist tries to balance marriage and motherhood while researching college women who work as prostitutes to pay their tuition.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Poland, Germany • 2011
- Director Małgorzata Szumowska
- Cast Juliette Binoche, Anaïs Demoustier, Joanna Kulig, Louis-Do de Lencquesaing, Krystyna Janda, Andrzej Chyra
- Genre Drama
- Available on OVID, Kino Now, Kanopy
Two Men in Town
(La voie de l‘ennemi)
A sheriffs grudge for a released convict creates tension in a small New Mexico town.
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- France, Belgium, Algeria • 2014
- Director Rachid Bouchareb
- Cast Forest Whitaker, Harvey Keitel, Brenda Blethyn, Luis Guzmán, Dolores Heredia, Ellen Burstyn
- Genre Crime, Drama
- Available on Cohen Media Amazon Channel, Apple TV, Google Play Movies, Amazon Video, YouTube, Kino Now, Tubi TV, Kanopy
Rainbow: A Private Affair
(Una questione privata)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Italy, France • 2017
- Director Paolo Taviani, Vittorio Taviani
- Cast Luca Marinelli, Valentina Bellè, Francesca Agostini, Lorenzo Richelmy, Anna Ferruzzo, Marco Brinzi
- Genre War, Drama
- Available on No streaming locations found.
Redemption
(Resgate)
- ✭ ✭ ✭
- Mozambique • 2019
- Director Mickey Fonseca
- Cast Gil Alexandre
- Genre Action, Drama
- Available on Amazon Prime Video, Amazon Video, Amazon Prime Video with Ads