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Michael Collins
Directed by	Neil Jordan
Produced by	Stephen Woolley
Written by	Neil Jordan
Starring	Liam Neeson Aidan Quinn Stephen Rea Alan Rickman Julia Roberts Ian Hart Charles Dance Jean Kennedy Smith Jonathan Rhys Meyers Brendan Gleeson
Music by	Elliot Goldenthal
Cinematography	Chris Menges
Distributed by	Geffen Pictures Warner Bros.
Release date(s)	28 August 1996 (premiere at VFF) 8 October 1996 8 October 1996 11 October 1996 25 October 1996 26 December 1996
Running time	128 min
Language	English
Budget	$28,000,000
IMDb profile

Michael Collins a 1996 biopic about Michael Collins, the Irish patriot and revolutionary who died in the Irish Civil War. Liam Neeson stars as the title character. Also starring are Aidan Quinn (Harry Boland); Stephen Rea (Ned Broy); Alan Rickman (Eamon de Valera); Julia Roberts (Kitty Kiernan), Brendan Gleeson (Liam Tobin); Ian Hart and Charles Dance. It was scripted and directed by Neil Jordan. The soundtrack was written by Elliot Goldenthal. The film was an international co-production between companies in Ireland, the UK and the USA.

In Ireland, the film was extremely successful, becoming the second most successful movie in Irish box-office history and the most successful Irish-made film of all time.^{[citation needed]} The film received generally positive reviews, but was criticized for its historical inaccuracies^[1].

With a budget estimated at between $35 to $40 million, receiving 10% to 12% of its budget from the Irish Film Board, the film was one of the most expensive films ever produced in Ireland. While still filming, the breakdown of the IRA ceasefire caused the film's release to be delayed from June to December which caused Warner Brothers executive Rob Friedman to pressure the director to reshoot the ending which focused on the love story between Collins and Kiernan in an attempt to downplay the breakdown of Anglo-Irish Treaty negotions.

Although based on historical events, the film contains numerous alterations and fictionalizations:

• In the scene in which Dáil Éireann is meeting in secret, Collins is referred to as the Minister for Intelligence. In fact, he was the Dáil Minister for Finance and the Director of Intelligence for the IRA; the roles had no formal link, and neither position had control over the other.
• Harry Boland did not die in the manner suggested by the film. His last words in the film - "Have they got Mick Collins yet?" - are however, based on a well-known tradition.
• In the film, Collins heads the delegation to London that negotiates the Anglo-Irish Treaty; in reality, it was led by Arthur Griffith, with Collins as his deputy.
• The character of Edward "Ned" Broy of the Dublin Metropolitan Police is a composite of many different police officers. The real Broy was a member of G Division, an intelligence branch of the Dublin Metropolitan Police, based not in Dublin Castle - as in the film - but in Marlborough Street. Michael Collins' main agent in Dublin Castle was David Neligan. Like Broy, he also survived the conflict and later headed the Irish Special Branch.
• In the film, Broy is murdered by the British after his arrest in Vaughan's hotel; in fact, Broy survived the Irish War of Independence and the Civil War, becoming Commissioner of the Garda Síochána a decade later, and living to a ripe old age.
• In the film Collins is told that Frank Thornton was shot in West Cork, a week before his own trip to Cork. Thornton however was wounded in an ambush outside Clonmel County Tipperary, a day before Collins himself was killed.
• In the film, Collins is shot and killed when he travels to Cork in order to meet Éamon de Valera, who, the film implies, bore some responsibility for his death, given that the assassin had been with de Valera that day. In fact, there is no clear evidence for this, despite de Valera's presence in the area the night before Collins' assassination. The film's treatment of de Valera was criticised by his supporters as unfair.^{[citation needed]}The film is ambiguous, only showing the assassin asking De Valera if he has a message for Collins, it then cuts to the assassin returning to meet Collins and telling him where De Valera will meet him the next day.
• The film depicts a carload of hardline northern unionist detectives sent to "deal" with Collins and the IRA being blown up in Dublin Castle. In fact, no killings of police took place in Dublin Castle and car-bombs were unknown at the time. Some commentators have contended that the filmmakers were trying to draw a connection between the Irish War of Independence and the later Troubles, when car-bombs were common.
• In the movie, the surrender at the end of the Easter Rising appears to take place outside the General Post Office in Dublin, whereas it actually took place on Moore Street.
• Collins says "I would have followed him through hell..." in reference to De Valera; in reality, he was referring to James Connolly, comparing him to Pádraig Pearse:

"Of Pearse and Connolly I admire the latter most. Connolly was a realist, Pearse the direct opposite . . . I would have followed him [Connolly] through hell had such action been necessary. But I honestly doubt very much if I would have followed Pearse — not without some thought anyway." ^[2]

• A statement in the film that the Irish Free State was formed at the beginning of 1922, following the Dáil's approval of the Treaty, has since appeared as fact on various websites,^{[citation needed]} even though the Irish Free State did not come into being until December 1922.

Neil Jordan, defended his film by saying that it could not provide an entirely accurate account of events, given that it was a two-hour film that had to be understandable to an international audience who would not know the minutiae of Irish history. He makes this argument and speaks on other artistic choices made for the film in the documentary on the making of the film, produced by the British television show The South Bank Show.^{[citation needed]} His critics, however, alleged that the scale of the fiction introduced, the use of real names for 'composite characters' who, like Broy, did not die as suggested, and in particular the misrepresentation of de Valera, the manner of Collins' death, and the introduction of the car bomb, undermined the film's trustworthiness.^{[citation needed]}

A documentary on the DVD release of the film discusses its fictional aspects.

The score was written by acclaimed composer Elliot Goldenthal, and features performances by Sinéad O'Connor.

The Irish Film Censor initially intended to give the film an over-15 Certificate, but later decided that it should be released with a PG certificate because of its historical importance. The censor issued a press statement defending his decision, claiming the film was a landmark in Irish cinema and that "because of the subject matter, parents should have the option of making their own decision as to whether their children should see the film or not".^{[citation needed]} The video release was, however, given a 12 certificate.

• Michael Collins at the Internet Movie Database
• Michael Collins, official website at Warner Brothers