Five Minutes of Heaven

Five Minutes of Heaven is a British/Irish film directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel from a script by Guy Hibbert. The film was premiered on January 19, 2009 at the 25th Sundance Film Festival^[1] where it won the World Cinema Dramatic Directing Award for Oliver Hirschbiegel, and the World Cinema Screenwriting Award for Guy Hibbert.^[2] It was broadcast on BBC Two on 5 April 2009, and also had an international theatrical release.

The first part reconstructs the historical killing of 19-year-old Jim Griffin by 17-year-old Alistair Little in 1975, and the second part depicts a fictional meeting between Little and Jim's brother Joe 33 years later.

Plot

Lurgan, Northern Ireland, 1975. The Northern Irish Troubles are underway, with the Irish Republican Army targeting British loyalists and the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force exacting revenge on Catholics they claim are militant republicans. Alistair Little, 17, is the leader of a UVF cell, eager to be blooded. He and his gang are given the go-ahead to kill a young Catholic man, James Griffin, as a reprisal and a warning to others. When the hit is carried out, Joe Griffin - the 8-year old little brother of the target - watches in horror as his brother is killed. Little goes to prison for 12 years.

Thirty-three years after the murder, Little and Joe Griffin are to meet, on camera, with a view to reconciliation. Little has served his sentence, and peace may have been agreed to in Northern Ireland, but Joe Griffin is not coming on the program for a handshake. Unbeknownst to the production team, he intends to murder his brother’s killer during the filmed meeting. However, he becomes emotional just before the meeting and demands that the cameras be removed, scuppering the project.

Later, Little agrees to meet Griffin in the latter's old house. Griffin attempts to stab Little, jumping him from behind. Little tackles Griffin, and both fall through a window, ending up the lying together on the outside pavement. The two are injured, and Little tells Griffin to "get rid of me" and tell his family that he killed him off because he is "nothing" and wants Griffin to live his life with his daughters.

Little is speaking metaphorically, and means for Griffin to kill Little off in his head, in so doing they can both move on. Griffin very shakily lights up a cigarette as Little pulls himself up against a wall and limps down the road. Soon after, Griffin attends a group sharing. He shares to the group that he wants to be a good father for his daughters and he cries. In the end, he calls Little to tell him, "we're finished."

Cast

(in order of appearance)

• Young Alistair - Mark Davison
• Andy - Diarmund Noyes
• Alistair's Mum - Niamh Cusack
• Stuart - Matthew McElhinney
• Dave - Conor MacNeill
• Alistair's Dad - Paul Garret
• Young Joe - Kevin O' Neill
• Jim - Gerard Jordan
• Joe's Mum - Paula McFetridge
• Adult Joe - James Nesbitt
• Joe's Chauffeur - Barry McEvoy
• Adult Alistair - Liam Neeson
• Alistair's Chauffeur - Richard Orr

Production

Five Minutes of Heaven was originally commissioned by BBC Four, as Hibbert did not want television executives to interfere with the script. BBC Four abandoned the project when they could not provide a bigger budget. To get more money for the film, independent production company Big Fish Films brought in other financial backers, including Northern Ireland Screen, and the film was eventually commissioned by Controller of BBC Two Roly Keating, and BBC Controller of Fiction Jane Tranter.^[3][4]

Filming was done on location in Belfast, Dundonald, Lurgan, Glenarm and Newtownards for four weeks from May to June 2008.^[4][5][6] Nesbitt met Griffin before filming began but Neeson decided to wait until after it had concluded before meeting Little; he said "I didn't want to see him before because I didn't want to be reminded of the physical differences between us and I didn't want to get that cluttered up in my head."^[6][7]

This was also the first time that two of Northern Ireland's top actors, Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt, had starred in a film together.

Release

Five Minutes of Heaven premiered at the 2009 Sundance Film Festival on 19 January 2009. It won in the World Cinema Directed Award: Dramatic, and World Cinema Screenwriting Award categories.^[8] It received its Irish premiere at the 2009 Jameson Dublin International Film Festival on 21 February 2009.^[7] A screening was given by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts in London on 23 March 2009. It was followed by a question-and-answer session with Hirschbiegel, Hibbert and Nesbitt.^[9] It was broadcast on BBC Two in England, Scotland and Wales on 5 April 2009 and on BBC One Northern Ireland on 13 April.^[10] Pathé holds worldwide theatrical distribution rights.^[11]

IFC Films signed a deal to distribute the film in the United States from August 2009, theatrically, through its video on demand service, and exclusively through Blockbuster retailers.^[12] The film opened at the Angelika Film Center in New York on 21 August 2009.^[13] It took $5,200 in box office receipts on its first weekend.^[14]

Reception

After Five Minutes of Heaven's Sundance screenings, Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter called it "very good at stating the obvious but fails to bring new insight to this age-old morality tale". He cited the scenes featuring Mark Davison (as the young Little) and Anamaria Marinca (as a television producer) as "the only time the movie sparks to life".^[15] Dennis Harvey for Variety was complimentary of Hibbert's screenplay and of Neeson's acting.^[11]

Padraic Geoghegan of RTÉ Entertainment criticized the lack of screen-time given to Griffin's family, and for not showing how Little came to be helping others like him in the present-day scenes. Geoghegan praised the flashback scenes, Hirschbeigel's direction, and Neeson and Nesbitt's acting.^[16] The Irish Times' Michael Dwyer rated the film four out of five stars. Of the acting, he wrote,

Nesbitt vividly portrays Griffin as a man still coiled with rage and horror by indelible memories of a living nightmare when he was a boy. And Neeson’s haunted features reveal the guilt and pain Little has carried since he committed his terrible crime.^[17]

Andrew Johnston for Culture Northern Ireland wrote,

Unlike some other Ulster-set pictures, Five Minutes of Heaven presents real people with real emotions, rather than political caricatures or slavish impersonations. There’s a slight sense that most of the budget went on securing Neeson, but the minimalist soundtrack, grotty colour scheme and amateurish fight scenes help underline the emptiness of the lead characters and the desolation of their predicament.^[18]

Awards

References

Further reading

• Sharrock, David (18 March 2009). "The ex-UVF man Alistair Little: 'I'd have got on a bus and killed everyone'". The Times (Times Newspapers).
• Staff (January 2009). "An interview with Guy Hibbert". UK Writer (Writers' Guild of Great Britain).

External links

• Official website
• Five Minutes of Heaven at the Internet Movie Database
• DVD Review at DVD Resurrections.com