THE GUARD
Ireland, 2011, 95 minutes, Colour.
Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, David Wilmot, Rory Keenan, Mark Strong, Fionnula Flanagan, Pat Shortt.
Directed by John Michael Mc Donagh.
A good opportunity for Brendan Gleeson to strut his stuff. And that is what he does as Gerry Boyle, a member of the Garda in Connemara. He is really a small fish in a small pond. But that does not take away anything from his sense of duty, his pride in his uniform, his shrewdness in administering the law. But, he is not pompous, though he does have a bit of a superiority complex.
Life is ordinary for him. While he lives alone, he cares for his mother (a salty-tongued performance from Fionnulla Flanagan), ribs his new assistant from Dublin, is cheeky to his superior officers, is not against visiting prostitutes in Galway from whom he catches a sexually transmitted disease. When he discovers a corpse and connects it with a drug running gang, he sets to work, especially when his assistant disappears.
But, the FBI has been called in in the form of Don Cheadle. He is the ultra-serious, suited agent who lacks a sense of humour, which puts him at odds with Gerry Boyle. Gerry, of course, takes pride in taking the mickey out of the Yank.
The trouble for the FBI agent is that, concerning the drug delivery, he is wrong and Gerry is right.
Writer-director John Michael Mc Donagh (who wrote the screenplay for the 2002 Ned Kelly) says that Gerry Boyle is a figure out of the Westerns. And this how the showdown occurs, even though it is at night on a pier on the coast, Gerry confidently striding out like every screen sheriff, guns blazing, bullets missing him, confronting the villains and sending them off to the next world. The FBI agent is his back-up.
While the idea of Gerry as a Western sheriff is entertaining, it is the dialogue and the humour that make The Guard entertaining. Naturally, there is a lot of swearing (seems an Irish custom) but there is a great deal of wit and deadpan humour which makes it quite an enjoyable portrait of a 21st century Irish garda.
1. The author’s description of the film as a western, in the west of Ireland? The western as the key to characters, situations and stances?
2. The importance of the Irish humour and wit? The dialogue, the combination of the crass and the cultured, the witty? References to literature and cinema? The deadpan humour – and the FBI agent unable to see the jokes? The humour giving the quality to the film?
3. The west of Ireland, Connemara, Galway, the city of Galway, the coast, the roads?
4. The musical score, the songs and the mood?
5. The title, Gerry Boyle, Brendan Gleeson and his presence? At work, patrol, the finding of the corpse, testing out the drug, his offsider from Dublin and the references? His disappearance? His wife at the hotel? Boyle and the authorities, the issue of the drugs, the briefing of Wendell Everett and his remarks? Racist comments?
6. His personal life, at home, by himself, dressing himself, the mirror, the uniform? His status in a small world? His visit to his mother and their conversation? The encounter with the prostitutes, catching the STD? The blackmail attempt?
7. On duty, the final confrontation, the lone sheriff, simple but shrewd?
8. Wendell, Don Cheadle, the FBI presence? His not understanding the jokes? The references to the FBI and Waco? His being certain about situations? The discussions with Boyle, offended by him? The information, the change, going to the wharf, the backup, the machine gun, the discussions about being shot, the explosions and his looking out to sea?
9. The criminal gang, the drugs, the various personnel? Francis Sheehy and his being in charge, his lifestyle? Liam O’Leary?, the confrontation with Gerry, trying to persuade him to be crooked, the shift with the guns, his death? Clive Cornell, the English background, his age, work, his comments – and his final comment, ‘Good shot’?
10. The local police, the authorities, their being corrupted by the drug dealers?
11. The contribution of the incidental characters, as drawn, brief, vital: Gerry’s mother and her tongue, his assistant and his contrasting Dublin with the coast, his wife and her concern, the prostitutes, the armourer?
12. The build-up to the climax, Gerry’s walk along the pier, making it like the West, fearless, the guns, his stance – on the boat, yet the explosion and his death?
13. Entertaining with wit and ironies?
