FIVE MINUTES OF HEAVEN
The Story:
At age 17 in 1975, Alistair (Mark Davison) is already a veteran on the side of underground pro-England, Protestant guerrillas in hometown Lurgen. As a badge of honor, he's asked for a "first kill" assignment, and is told to assassinate a young Catholic local who was warned to leave the area but hasn't. Alistair accomplishes his grim task, but the shooting is observed by the victim's previously unnoticed younger brother Joe (Kevin O'Neill). He makes a split-second decision to spare this child witness, then flees.
Thirty-three years later, two men are being separately chauffeured to an assignation both have committed to, yet dread. Alistair (Liam Neeson) repented his misguided fanaticism during 12 years in prison, emerging a famous, globetrotting expert on individual conflict resolution and indoctrination into violent groups.
Joe (James Nesbitt) still lives in Lurgen, with a wife and two small offspring. But his original family crumbled after the eldest brother's death; his mother went to her grave irrationally blaming him for not somehow stopping the murder. Stuck in factory labor, he bitterly resents Alistair's supposedly charmed life.
A television program has arranged for the two men to meet at last, with the idea that some kind of reconciliation might occur. But an extremely agitated Joe confesses to production assistant Vika (Anamaria Marinca), a sincere person amid the smarmy crew that he's always wanted to wreak vengeance on Alistair. Unbeknownst to the production team, he intends to stick a knife in his brother’s killer - live on air
Starring:
Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca, Conor MacNeill, Niamh Cusack
Directed By:
Oliver Hirschbiegel
Release:
2009
Watch the Trailer:
