Route Irish (film)
| Route Irish | |
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French theatrical release poster
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| Directed by | Ken Loach |
| Produced by | Rebecca O'Brien |
| Written by | Paul Laverty |
| Starring |
Mark Womack Andrea Lowe John Bishop |
| Music by | George Fenton |
| Cinematography | Chris Menges |
| Edited by | Jonathan Morris |
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Production
company |
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| Distributed by | Artificial Eye |
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Release date
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Running time
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109 minutes |
| Country | United Kingdom France Belgium |
| Language | English |
Route Irish is a 2010 drama-thriller film directed by Ken Loach and written by Paul Laverty. It is set in Liverpool and focuses on the consequences suffered by private security contractors after fighting in the Iraq War. The title comes from the Baghdad Airport Road, known as "Route Irish". The film was a British-French co-production. It was selected for the main competition at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.
Philip French, in The Observer, wrote that the film reprises several themes in Loach's films, such as state-sanctioned crime, the brutality of war, the exploitation of the underclass and harsh treatment of native populations.
The film opens on a ferry in Liverpool, as Fergus Molloy (Mark Womack) remembers the final messages sent to him by his lifelong friend Frankie (John Bishop), whose funeral he is to attend. The night before, Molloy unseals his friend's coffin to see his friend's badly injured corpse. At the funeral, Haynes (Jack Fortune) a director of the private military company that Molloy and Frankie worked for, gives a eulogy praising Frankie and describing military contractors as the "unsung heroes of our time". Afterwards, Haynes and Walker (Geoff Bell) explain to Frankie's family the circumstances of his death, though Molloy remains embittered and closely questions the two men. Later at the wake, Molloy attacks Haynes when he sees him distributing his business card to enlisted soldiers there.
Marisol (Najwa Nimri) bequeaths a package to Molloy, which Frankie had entrusted to a mutual friend with a note asking it be given to Molloy. With the help of Harim (Talib Rasool), an Iraqi musician, Molloy discovers a video on the phone which shows a member of Frankie's team killing an innocent Iraqi family a few weeks before his death. Molloy becomes suspicious, and has friends still working for the firm in Iraq investigate the incident, but it has not been recorded.
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Wikipedia