'71 is a British production based on events that occurred in 1971 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The film was screened at the Berlin Film Festival, without winning a prize but received very positive reviews. It was released two weeks ago in my country and I was impressed by the size of the crowd in the cinema. It seems that Greeks (highbrows or not) really care about the events of that era. During the film, we did not hear even a whisper. There was such dedication which I have not seen anywhere else. Or maybe they were sleeping?
'71 had powerful beginning, however, it lost its high tension and slowed down at the end. While the first half of the film (the cinema hall had a break) there was tension, fast cutting and exciting chase scenes in the second half till the end, the story lost its intensity and the dark image did not help at all the whole situation. The dingy and depressing shots and the shaky camera which always cause nausea to the viewers, were not the best for the eye. I thought the script would be interesting but ultimately limited to something that we have seen many times in the movies. Instead of doing an introduction and explain some things about the events of that time (or at least show them), puts you directly into the atmosphere and ends up becoming a movie with chases that reminded us of the mafia movies of the 70s (who is the bad or good guy, etc.). Not even political background was explained. I did not find intriguing the plot and I think there are much better films on the dramatic events of that period. The actors, however, were quite good and generally, British productions are always based on great performances! It is no coincidence that even in Hollywood, British actors/es excel with their talent, while American actors/es are limited to sympathetic interpretations (Okay, there are some exceptions). However, the photography in some shots was good (when it was not in the blackness), the elaborate montage was excellent in the first half hour and the cinematography was great overall. The director Yann Demange could not do too much with this script but it seems that his different influences have confused him since '71 was a bit of all. It was a movie which culture lovers would love (because it had a few dialogues), it had many similarities to Mafia movies and it had Hollywood action too. Justified because he is a young and upcoming director, otherwise if he was a bit more experienced, I would say that it was a bad time. However, in some places, he managed to create a realistic scene.
Although critics and hipsters praised '71, it did not move me at all. Of course, it was not a bad movie but it could have had a better total result. It started very strong but it was quite tired in the second part. If the writer held the tension from the beginning till the end, we would see one of the most exiting stories of the year, but with such a result in any case. However, the majority of users of IMDb (1.821 so far) have a different opinion than my own and they have given very high scores to this movie as its average score is a 7.8! Personally, I would give a unit less because I did not find the whole scenario fascinating. It was the personal story of a soldier which didn't add something new to our knowledge. I feel like something is missing.
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