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Five Minutes of HeavenInternational Narrative FeatureUnited Kingdom/Ireland, 2009, 90 mins., color The idea of reconciliation between two men from opposite sides of a life-and-death struggle is perhaps impossible or even incredibly naïve. Five Minutes of Heaven, a film that tracks the lives of two men from the same town but different sides of the Irish political divide, is unlike any other on this subject. One man, Alistair, is a killer; the other, Joe, is the brother of the man he killed. One feels he dare not ask for forgiveness; the other feels incapable of giving it. And so the scene is set in this masterfully conceived drama, written by Guy Hibbert (Omagh) and perfectly directed by German filmmaker Oliver Hirschbiegel. The leads are Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt, and they are both superb. But the film’s careful construction is what transforms this from predictable to transcendent. This isn’t a work of expiation or guilt; neither does it seek a simplistically dramatic finale. It is, like its subject, the portrait of a process; and the hatred and trauma that are its foundation are such that their genesis took years. Five Minutes of Heaven is replete with an almost-exquisite sensitivity and quest for understanding. It is perhaps impossible to erase the past, but we are better off for encountering it with the kind of passion and insight emanating from a true work of art. Recipient of the World Cinema Directing Award: Dramatic and the World Cinema Screenwriting Award. CAST Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca Oliver Hirschbiegel - Oliver Hirschbiegel was born in Hamburg, Germany, in 1957. In his teens, he left high school and worked on a boat. He later studied painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Hamburg, where he also began experimenting with video and photography. His experimental movies attracted the attention of some German television producers. He was a popular television director, and in 2001 he shot his first feature film, Das Experiment, which won the Audience Award at the German Film Awards as the best German film of the year.
Screenings:
Mon. Jan 19 6:30 p.m. - FIVEM19EE Egyptian Theatre, Park City Wed. Jan 21 11:59 p.m. - FIVEM21EL Egyptian Theatre, Park City Fri. Jan 23 9:00 p.m. - FIVEM23WN Tower Theatre, SLC Sat. Jan 24 2:15 p.m. - FIVEM24LA Library Center Theatre, Park City |
