|
|
MAZE (2019)
Director: Stephen Burke Cast: Tom Vaughan-Lawler, Barry Ward, Martin McCann, Eileen Walsh, Aaron Monaghan, Tim Creed, Cillian O'Sullivan, Patrick Buchanan, Nimah McGrady, Ross McKinney, Elva Trill MPAA
Rating: Running Time: 1:32 Release Date: 3/22/19 (limited); 4/12/19 (wider) |
|
Review by Mark Dujsik | April 11, 2019 Maze tells the story of the 1983 escape of 38 prisoners, convicted of various crimes involving paramilitary action in favor of Irish independence, from the Maze Prison in Northern Ireland. It details the planning of that escape, but the film does a lot more, too, especially in how it looks at both sides of the violence-filled period known as the Troubles. Writer/director Stephen Burke doesn't take a side and, instead, simply looks on with lament at the toll of the strife. There's a sense of pain and loss on both sides here. The prisoners are looking to make the deaths of their comrades during the 1981 hunger strike mean something, and without the prisoners' knowledge or approval, prison guards are being targeted by the IRA. There's anger, too, of course, over the specifics of this prisoner-guard standoff and the political debate that came to define decades of life in Northern Ireland. It's the kind of picture that can only be presented in retrospect, and the one thing that unites all of these characters is that they hope they—or at least their children—will have the luxury of hindsight. The central figure is Larry Marley (Tom Vaughn-Lawlor), who has been in the Maze for over a decade. He knew the 10 men who starved to death during the earlier protest, and although the prisoners in the multiple H-shaped blocks have received some concessions since then, he and his fellow republican inmates are still held as criminal prisoners, not political ones. He believes that an escape will hurt the British government and bolster the morale of his cause. There are issues with the idea (Nobody knows for certain what the prison looks like) and internal debates among the prisoners about the efficacy of an escape. The central relationship, though, belongs to Larry and Gordon (Barry Ward), a guard on the block who's targeted for assassination while he's out with his family (His own home becomes fortress/prison as a result). The two men strike up a mutually strained sort of understanding, although it's far from respect or friendship. Each man hates what the other stands for, but Maze does find a shared cause between them. It's in a little hope for the future and in a lot of weariness over the conflict. Burke is wise enough to see this, not as a solution, but at least as a start. Copyright © 2019 by Mark Dujsik. All rights reserved. |
Buy Related Products
|
