In the Name of the Father: Critic Reviews

[Sheridan] works with such piercing fervor and intelligence that In the Name of the Father just about transcends its tidy moral design.

The film offers layers of dramatic detail for those who might be confused at points but teased to inquire further.

As good a compromise of fact and fiction as you could hope for -- and still call it a movie.

The film takes forever to do what 60 Minutes does with the same meat in a single segment.

[Day-Lewis] proves here once again that he is one of the most talented and interesting actors of his generation.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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

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.

I miss Day-Lewis in films.