Veronica Guerin (film)
Encyclopedia
Veronica Guerin is a 2003
Irish biographical film
directed by Joel Schumacher
. The screenplay by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue focuses on Irish
journalist
Veronica Guerin
, whose investigation into the drug trade in Dublin led to her murder in 1996.
The film is the second to be inspired by Guerin's life. Three years earlier, When the Sky Falls
centred on the same story, although the names of the real-life characters were changed.
reporter for the Sunday Independent
. Suddenly aware of how much Dublin's illegal drug trade
is encroaching upon the lives of its working class
citizens, especially the children, she becomes determined to expose the men responsible for its spread.
Guerin begins by interviewing the pre-pubescent addicts who shoot up on the street or in abandoned buildings in the housing estates. Her investigation leads her to major suppliers and John Traynor
, a notable source of information about the criminal underworld. Traynor is willing to assist her to an extent but is not above misleading her in order to protect himself from nefarious drug lord John Gilligan. In order to steer her away from Gilligan, Traynor suggests Gerry Hutch
, a criminal known as The Monk, is in charge of the operation. Guerin pursues him with a vengeance, only to discover he is not involved.
As Guerin's investigation deepens and she comes closer to the truth, she and her family become targets. When a bullet fired through a window in her home as a warning fails to stop her, she is shot in the leg and the life of her young son Cathal is threatened. Her husband Graham, mother Bernie, and brother Jimmy implore her to stop, but when Guerin confronts Gilligan at his home and he savagely beats her, she becomes more determined to expose him for who he is. Rather than press charges against him, which would necessitate her removal from the story, she forges ahead with her investigation.
On 26 June 1996, Guerin appears in court to respond to an accumulation of parking tickets and numerous penalties for speeding that she has ignored. She is given a nominal fine of IR£100, but while en route home she calls her mother and then her husband to report the good news. She is speaking to her office while stopped at traffic lights on red on the Naas Dual Carriageway when a motorcycle with two men on it pulls up beside her. The driver breaks the window of her car and then shoots her six times. The two flee and dispose of the bike and the gun in a nearby river.
Guerin is mourned by her family, friends, associates and the country at large. Her violent death results in the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau
and Gilligan together with several of his henchmen are tried and sentenced to lengthy gaol terms. In an epilogue
, we learn that "Veronica Guerin's writing turned the tide in the drug war. Her murder galvanised Ireland into action. Thousands of people took to the streets in weekly anti-drug marches, which drove the dealers out of Dublin and forced the drug barons underground. Within a week of her death, in an emergency session of the Parliament
, the Government altered the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland to allow the High Court to freeze the assets of suspected drug barons. Everyone in Ireland
remembers where they were when they heard that Veronica Guerin had been murdered on the Naas Road."
, "Aftermath" by Tricky
, and "Everlasting Love" by U2
.
Colin Farrell
makes a cameo appearance
as a heavily tattooed young man Guerin briefly engages in conversation about a soccer match
of The New York Times
called the film "a flat-footed, overwrought crusader-against-evil melodrama, in which Ms. Blanchett's formidable gifts as an actress are reduced to a haircut and an accent. Neither Mr. Schumacher nor Jerry Bruckheimer ... is famous for subtlety, and you expect a movie like this to sacrifice a measure of nuance to be appropriately rousing and emphatic. But the filmmakers have succeeded in making Guerin's fascinating story tedious and formulaic, and in making a real-life drama seem as phony as mediocre television ... [T]he storytelling is so clumsy that very little intrigue develops. Nor does much genuine emotion, a defect that Mr. Schumacher tries to overcome with clever editing and loud, swelling music. Veronica Guerin is disappointing in its lazy glibness; it wastes a somber and heroic story that could have made a fine movie."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
noted, "Cate Blanchett plays Guerin in a way that fascinated me for reasons the movie probably did not intend. I have a sneaky suspicion that director Joel Schumacher and his writers ... think of this as a story of courage and determination, but what I came away with was a story of bone-headed egocentrism ... The film ends with the obligatory public funeral, grateful proles lining the streets while type crawls up the screen telling how much Guerin's anti-drug crusade accomplished. These are standard prompts for us to get a little weepy at the heroism of this brave martyr, but actually I think Blanchett and Schumacher have found the right note for their story."
Mick LaSalle
of the San Francisco Chronicle
observed, "The film's success hinges on its avoidance of cliché – including ... the lovable anti-heroine – and what emerges is an arresting portrait of a fascinating and somewhat mysterious personality. Congratulations to director Joel Schumacher and screenwriter Carol Doyle for not including the typical Hollywood scene, which usually comes right before the climax, in which the protagonist sums up why she's willing to sacrifice all ... Aside from one lapse into sentimentality ... Joel Schumacher has crafted a smart, brisk thriller. More than that, he's given us a compelling character study and a celebration of a kind of modern woman who just did not exist a few generations ago: competent, professional, living on a cell phone, working into the night."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
rated the film two out of four stars and commented, "Cate Blanchett is the spark that keeps this well-meaning but by-the-numbers biopic going."
Derek Elley of Variety
stated, "It's slickly packaged, looks good in widescreen and toplines Cate Blanchett, but producer Jerry Bruckheimer and helmer Joel Schumacher ... seem boxed in by the very recent story and by the challenge of making a driven, rather foolhardy newspaperwoman into a sympathetic figure. So they have taken an accessible, generic approach to the material, treating it as a star vehicle, with Blanchett, who's in almost every scene, driving the [picture] (though in one of her most actorly and emotionally least convincing [performances])."
Peter Keough of the Boston Phoenix said the film "is based on falsehoods" and added, "But this is a Jerry Bruckheimer movie directed by Joel Schumacher, and shameless exploitation and cheap sentiment take precedence over difficult truths. Instead of a genuine tale of courage, folly, and corruption, this is a crude cartoon of good versus evil that includes Blanchett's worst performance and a conclusion that is one of the more repulsive pieces of emotional pornography since Bruckheimer's Pearl Harbor
. Ciarán Hinds brings a touch of class and authenticity with his redolent portrayal of Guerin's underworld contact, John Traynor, but Guerin deserved better, and audiences do too."
Philip French
of The Observer
called the film "a gripping thriller" "directed by Joel Schumacher at his least mannered" and "produced with uncharacteristic restraint by the leading action movie producer, Jerry Bruckheimer."
in Monster, and the Empire Award for Best Actress
, which she lost to Uma Thurman
in Kill Bill, Vol. 1
.
Irish Film & Television Award
nominations went to Ciarán Hinds, Gerard McSorley, and Brenda Fricker for their performances, Brendan Galvin for Best Cinematography, Joan Bergin for Best Costume Design, and Dee Corcoran and Ailbhe Lemass for Best Hair/Make-Up. The film won the UGC
Cinemas Audience Award for Best Irish Film.
Joel Schumacher won the Solidarity Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival
.
format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in Spanish. Bonus features include commentary by Joel Schumacher; commentary by screenwriters Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue; Public Mask, Private Fears, which includes cast and crew interviews; A Conversation with Jerry Bruckheimer; a deleted scene recreating Guerin's speech to the Committee to Protect Journalists; and historical footage of Guerin's speech.
2003 in film
The year 2003 in film involved some significant events. Releases of sequels took place with movies like The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, 2 Fast 2 Furious, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, The Matrix Reloaded, The Matrix Revolutions, Pokémon Heroes, Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines,...
Irish biographical film
Biographical film
A biographical film, or biopic , is a film that dramatizes the life of an actual person or people. They differ from films “based on a true story” or “historical films” in that they attempt to comprehensively tell a person’s life story or at least the most historically important years of their...
directed by Joel Schumacher
Joel Schumacher
Joel T. Schumacher is an American film director, screenwriter and producer.-Early life:Schumacher was born in New York City, the son of Marian and Francis Schumacher. His mother was a Swedish Jew, and his father was a Baptist from Knoxville, Tennessee, who died when Joel was four years old...
. The screenplay by Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue focuses on Irish
Irish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
Veronica Guerin
Veronica Guerin
Veronica Guerin was an Irish crime reporter who was murdered on 26 June 1996 by drug lords, an event which, alongside the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe three weeks earlier, helped establish the Criminal Assets Bureau....
, whose investigation into the drug trade in Dublin led to her murder in 1996.
The film is the second to be inspired by Guerin's life. Three years earlier, When the Sky Falls
When the Sky Falls
When the Sky Falls is a 2000 film à clef directed by John Mackenzie and filmed in Ireland, starring Joan Allen. The story is based on that of Veronica Guerin, a crime reporter writing about drugs for the Sunday Independent, her investigations and murder.-Cast:*Joan Allen as Sinead Hamilton*Patrick...
centred on the same story, although the names of the real-life characters were changed.
Plot
Veronica Guerin is a feisty crimeCrime
Crime is the breach of rules or laws for which some governing authority can ultimately prescribe a conviction...
reporter for the Sunday Independent
Sunday Independent
The Sunday Independent is a broadsheet Sunday newspaper published in Ireland by Independent News and Media plc. The newspaper is edited by Aengus Fanning, and is the biggest selling Irish Sunday newspaper by a large margin ; average circulation of 291,323 between June 2004 and January 2005,...
. Suddenly aware of how much Dublin's illegal drug trade
Illegal drug trade
The illegal drug trade is a global black market, dedicated to cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of those substances which are subject to drug prohibition laws. Most jurisdictions prohibit trade, except under license, of many types of drugs by drug prohibition laws.A UN report said the...
is encroaching upon the lives of its working class
Working class
Working class is a term used in the social sciences and in ordinary conversation to describe those employed in lower tier jobs , often extending to those in unemployment or otherwise possessing below-average incomes...
citizens, especially the children, she becomes determined to expose the men responsible for its spread.
Guerin begins by interviewing the pre-pubescent addicts who shoot up on the street or in abandoned buildings in the housing estates. Her investigation leads her to major suppliers and John Traynor
John Traynor (criminal)
John "The Coach" Traynor is an Irish criminal. Traynor was one of the contacts in the criminal world for murdered Irish journalist Veronica Guerin.-Career:...
, a notable source of information about the criminal underworld. Traynor is willing to assist her to an extent but is not above misleading her in order to protect himself from nefarious drug lord John Gilligan. In order to steer her away from Gilligan, Traynor suggests Gerry Hutch
Gerry Hutch
Gerry Hutch is a former Irish convicted criminal alleged to have been one of Ireland's most successful bank robbers. He is often known by his nickname of The Monk because he is famously clean living and religious, leading a "disciplined, ascetic lifestyle" after leaving prison in 1985. He was born...
, a criminal known as The Monk, is in charge of the operation. Guerin pursues him with a vengeance, only to discover he is not involved.
As Guerin's investigation deepens and she comes closer to the truth, she and her family become targets. When a bullet fired through a window in her home as a warning fails to stop her, she is shot in the leg and the life of her young son Cathal is threatened. Her husband Graham, mother Bernie, and brother Jimmy implore her to stop, but when Guerin confronts Gilligan at his home and he savagely beats her, she becomes more determined to expose him for who he is. Rather than press charges against him, which would necessitate her removal from the story, she forges ahead with her investigation.
On 26 June 1996, Guerin appears in court to respond to an accumulation of parking tickets and numerous penalties for speeding that she has ignored. She is given a nominal fine of IR£100, but while en route home she calls her mother and then her husband to report the good news. She is speaking to her office while stopped at traffic lights on red on the Naas Dual Carriageway when a motorcycle with two men on it pulls up beside her. The driver breaks the window of her car and then shoots her six times. The two flee and dispose of the bike and the gun in a nearby river.
Guerin is mourned by her family, friends, associates and the country at large. Her violent death results in the establishment of the Criminal Assets Bureau
Criminal Assets Bureau
The Criminal Assets Bureau is a law enforcement agency in Ireland, the purpose of which is to recover the proceeds of organised crime. It is a division of the Garda , but reports annually to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform...
and Gilligan together with several of his henchmen are tried and sentenced to lengthy gaol terms. In an epilogue
Epilogue
An epilogue, epilog or afterword is a piece of writing at the end of a work of literature or drama, usually used to bring closure to the work...
, we learn that "Veronica Guerin's writing turned the tide in the drug war. Her murder galvanised Ireland into action. Thousands of people took to the streets in weekly anti-drug marches, which drove the dealers out of Dublin and forced the drug barons underground. Within a week of her death, in an emergency session of the Parliament
Oireachtas
The Oireachtas , sometimes referred to as Oireachtas Éireann, is the "national parliament" or legislature of Ireland. The Oireachtas consists of:*The President of Ireland*The two Houses of the Oireachtas :**Dáil Éireann...
, the Government altered the Constitution of the Republic of Ireland to allow the High Court to freeze the assets of suspected drug barons. Everyone in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
remembers where they were when they heard that Veronica Guerin had been murdered on the Naas Road."
Cast
- Cate BlanchettCate BlanchettCatherine Élise "Cate" Blanchett is an Australian actress. She came to international attention for her role as Elizabeth I of England in the 1998 biopic film Elizabeth, for which she won British Academy of Film and Television Arts and Golden Globe Awards, and earned her first Academy Award...
as Veronica Guerin - Gerard McSorleyGerard McSorleyGerard McSorley is a theatre, television and an Irish film actor.-Early life:He was born in Omagh, County Tyrone, and after attending a Christian Brothers school in his hometown he attended St. Columb's College in Derry. He then attended Queen's University, Belfast, where he was taught by among...
as John Gilligan - Ciarán HindsCiarán HindsCiarán Hinds is an Irish film, television and stage actor. He has built up a reputation as a versatile character actor appearing in such high profile films as Road to Perdition, The Phantom of the Opera, Munich, There Will Be Blood and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. His television roles include...
as John Traynor - Brenda FrickerBrenda FrickerBrenda Fricker is an Irish actress of theatre, film and television. She had appeared in more than 30 films and television roles...
as Bernie Guerin - Barry Barnes as Graham Turley
- Simon O'Driscoll as Cathal Turley
- Don WycherleyDon WycherleyDon Wycherley is an Irish actor who is well known for the portrayal of Father Cyril McDuff in the comedy Father Ted. Don is the brother of Gordon Wycherley. Other roles include Raymond in Bachelors Walk and Fr...
as Chris Mulligan - Alan DevineAlan DevineAlan Devine is an Irish actor born in County Galway in 1970.He has played minor roles in several films. Devine graduated with honours from Trinity College, Dublin, where he studied philosophy and sociology. He has since pursued a career of acting in both film and on the stage. There his credits...
as Gerry Hutch - Danielle Fox Clarke as the Girl Junkie
Soundtrack
The soundtrack includes "Funeral Song" and "One More Day" performed by Sinéad O'ConnorSinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, "Aftermath" by Tricky
Tricky
Tricky is an English musician and actor. As a producer and a musician, he is noted for a dark, rich and layered sound and a whispering sprechgesang lyrical style. Culturally, Tricky encourages an intertwining of societies, particularly in his musical fusion of rock and hip hop, high art and pop...
, and "Everlasting Love" by U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
.
Colin Farrell
Colin Farrell
Colin James Farrell is an Irish actor, who has appeared in such film as Tigerland, Miami Vice, Minority Report, Phone Booth, The Recruit, Alexander and S.W.A.T....
makes a cameo appearance
Cameo appearance
A cameo role or cameo appearance is a brief appearance of a known person in a work of the performing arts, such as plays, films, video games and television...
as a heavily tattooed young man Guerin briefly engages in conversation about a soccer match
Critical reception
A. O. ScottA. O. Scott
Anthony Oliver Scott, known as A. O. Scott , is an American journalist and critic. He is a chief film critic for The New York Times, along with Manohla Dargis.-Background and education:...
of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
called the film "a flat-footed, overwrought crusader-against-evil melodrama, in which Ms. Blanchett's formidable gifts as an actress are reduced to a haircut and an accent. Neither Mr. Schumacher nor Jerry Bruckheimer ... is famous for subtlety, and you expect a movie like this to sacrifice a measure of nuance to be appropriately rousing and emphatic. But the filmmakers have succeeded in making Guerin's fascinating story tedious and formulaic, and in making a real-life drama seem as phony as mediocre television ... [T]he storytelling is so clumsy that very little intrigue develops. Nor does much genuine emotion, a defect that Mr. Schumacher tries to overcome with clever editing and loud, swelling music. Veronica Guerin is disappointing in its lazy glibness; it wastes a somber and heroic story that could have made a fine movie."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
noted, "Cate Blanchett plays Guerin in a way that fascinated me for reasons the movie probably did not intend. I have a sneaky suspicion that director Joel Schumacher and his writers ... think of this as a story of courage and determination, but what I came away with was a story of bone-headed egocentrism ... The film ends with the obligatory public funeral, grateful proles lining the streets while type crawls up the screen telling how much Guerin's anti-drug crusade accomplished. These are standard prompts for us to get a little weepy at the heroism of this brave martyr, but actually I think Blanchett and Schumacher have found the right note for their story."
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle
Mick LaSalle is an American Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] Mick LaSalle is an [[United States|American]] [[film reviewer] and the author of two books on pre-[[Motion Picture Production Code|Hays Code]] Hollywood...
of the San Francisco Chronicle
San Francisco Chronicle
thumb|right|upright|The Chronicle Building following the [[1906 San Francisco earthquake|1906 earthquake]] and fireThe San Francisco Chronicle is a newspaper serving primarily the San Francisco Bay Area of the U.S. state of California, but distributed throughout Northern and Central California,...
observed, "The film's success hinges on its avoidance of cliché – including ... the lovable anti-heroine – and what emerges is an arresting portrait of a fascinating and somewhat mysterious personality. Congratulations to director Joel Schumacher and screenwriter Carol Doyle for not including the typical Hollywood scene, which usually comes right before the climax, in which the protagonist sums up why she's willing to sacrifice all ... Aside from one lapse into sentimentality ... Joel Schumacher has crafted a smart, brisk thriller. More than that, he's given us a compelling character study and a celebration of a kind of modern woman who just did not exist a few generations ago: competent, professional, living on a cell phone, working into the night."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
rated the film two out of four stars and commented, "Cate Blanchett is the spark that keeps this well-meaning but by-the-numbers biopic going."
Derek Elley of Variety
Variety (magazine)
Variety is an American weekly entertainment-trade magazine founded in New York City, New York, in 1905 by Sime Silverman. With the rise of the importance of the motion-picture industry, Daily Variety, a daily edition based in Los Angeles, California, was founded by Silverman in 1933. In 1998, the...
stated, "It's slickly packaged, looks good in widescreen and toplines Cate Blanchett, but producer Jerry Bruckheimer and helmer Joel Schumacher ... seem boxed in by the very recent story and by the challenge of making a driven, rather foolhardy newspaperwoman into a sympathetic figure. So they have taken an accessible, generic approach to the material, treating it as a star vehicle, with Blanchett, who's in almost every scene, driving the [picture] (though in one of her most actorly and emotionally least convincing [performances])."
Peter Keough of the Boston Phoenix said the film "is based on falsehoods" and added, "But this is a Jerry Bruckheimer movie directed by Joel Schumacher, and shameless exploitation and cheap sentiment take precedence over difficult truths. Instead of a genuine tale of courage, folly, and corruption, this is a crude cartoon of good versus evil that includes Blanchett's worst performance and a conclusion that is one of the more repulsive pieces of emotional pornography since Bruckheimer's Pearl Harbor
Pearl Harbor (film)
Pearl Harbor is a 2001 American action drama war film directed by Michael Bay and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and Randall Wallace, who wrote the screenplay...
. Ciarán Hinds brings a touch of class and authenticity with his redolent portrayal of Guerin's underworld contact, John Traynor, but Guerin deserved better, and audiences do too."
Philip French
Philip French
Philip French is a British film critic and former radio producer.French, the son of an insurance salesman, was educated at the direct grant Bristol Grammar School, read Law at Oxford University. and post graduate study in Journalism at Indiana University, Bloomington on a scholarship.He has been...
of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
called the film "a gripping thriller" "directed by Joel Schumacher at his least mannered" and "produced with uncharacteristic restraint by the leading action movie producer, Jerry Bruckheimer."
Awards and nominations
Cate Blanchett was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama but lost to Charlize TheronCharlize Theron
Charlize Theron is a South African actress, film producer and former fashion model.She rose to fame in the late 1990s following her roles in 2 Days in the Valley, Mighty Joe Young, The Devil's Advocate and The Cider House Rules...
in Monster, and the Empire Award for Best Actress
Empire Awards
An Empire Award is an accolade bestowed by Empire, Britain's biggest selling film magazine, to recognize excellence of professionals in the locale and global film industry. The awards are voted for by readers of the magazine and in an annual ceremony, the Empire Awards, the winners are presented...
, which she lost to Uma Thurman
Uma Thurman
Uma Karuna Thurman is an American actress and model. She has performed in leading roles in a variety of films, ranging from romantic comedies and dramas to science fiction and action movies. Among her best-known roles are those in the Quentin Tarantino films Pulp Fiction and Kill Bill...
in Kill Bill, Vol. 1
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 1 is a 2003 action thriller film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is the first of two volumes that were theatrically released several months apart, the second volume being Kill Bill Volume 2....
.
Irish Film & Television Award
The 1st Annual Irish Film & Television Awards 2003
-Awards in film:Best Irish Film Jury Award* Intermission ** The Actors** Chavez - Inside the Coup** Dead Bodies** Song for a Raggy Boy** Veronica GuerinBest Film Director...
nominations went to Ciarán Hinds, Gerard McSorley, and Brenda Fricker for their performances, Brendan Galvin for Best Cinematography, Joan Bergin for Best Costume Design, and Dee Corcoran and Ailbhe Lemass for Best Hair/Make-Up. The film won the UGC
UGC
UGC is the second largest cinema operator in Europe with, as of August 2005, 49 sites and 553 screens across four countries:* France: 37 cinemas, 357 screens* Spain: 5 cinemas, 88 screens* Belgium: 3 cinemas, 43 screens* Italy: 4 cinemas, 66 screens...
Cinemas Audience Award for Best Irish Film.
Joel Schumacher won the Solidarity Award at the San Sebastián International Film Festival
San Sebastián International Film Festival
The San Sebastián International Film Festival is an annual FIAPF A category film festival held in the Spanish city of San Sebastián .-History:The festival was founded in 1953...
.
DVD release
The Region 2 DVD was released on 26 January 2004, and the Region 1 DVD was released two months later on 16 March. It is in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format with audio tracks in English and French and subtitles in Spanish. Bonus features include commentary by Joel Schumacher; commentary by screenwriters Carol Doyle and Mary Agnes Donoghue; Public Mask, Private Fears, which includes cast and crew interviews; A Conversation with Jerry Bruckheimer; a deleted scene recreating Guerin's speech to the Committee to Protect Journalists; and historical footage of Guerin's speech.