Collins film "could contain metaphor for North"

THE release date in Ireland and the UK for the film Michael Collins will not be influenced by concerns about its possible effect on the political situation in Northern Ireland, Neil Jordan has said.

The director made a triumphant return to Dublin yesterday after winning the Golden Lion prize for best film at the Venice film festival.

British politicians have attacked the film, claiming it gives sympathetic treatment to a republican guerrilla leader and that this would contribute to sectarian tensions in Northern Ireland.

However, Mr Jordan said at the award ceremony in Venice on Saturday that he hoped it would have the opposite effect.

The exact release date in Britain and Ireland would be decided in consultation with the producers, Warner Brothers, later this week, he said.

"The film opens in the US on October 11th, and is likely to start here and in the UK some time in November. But its opening won't depend on the situation in the North."

Mr Jordan, who received a standing ovation from the cast and crew at a special screening in Dublin's Savoy cinema yesterday, said he was "thrilled" by the award.

Michael Collins is the first Hollywood financed film to win the major prize at Venice, and is hotly tipped to pick up a raft of Oscar nominations next year.

Asked about criticisms of the historical accuracy of the film, the 44 year old director said it was "not a matter of feeling vindicated. I just want people to see the movie. Most people will recognise that it is responsibly made. But you can't write history without having a point of view".

Although the film was "about then, not about now" it did, he conceded, have modern resonances.

"After all, it was Collins who effectively set up the Six Counties, and that is why he was shot. The film wasn't made to provoke, but it will cause a lot of comment.

"It is about how someone created an army, and was then faced with the challenge of uncreating it. It shows how Collins failed to do this. I think the metaphor is obvious."

Jordan says he cannot understand criticisms of the portrayal of Eamon de Valera. "Dev doesn't come out favourably in the film but the period from 1918 to 1922 was not his best years." Much of the dialogue spoken by Alan Rickman as de Valera was direct quotation, he pointed out.

Liam Neeson, whose portrayal of Collins won him the Golden Lion prize for best actor, is due to leave hospital in Padua today. He fell ill in Venice with an intestinal problem earlier in the festival and Aidan Quinn, a supporting actor, accepted the award on his behalf.

The film, which also stars Julia Roberts and Stephen Rea, was chosen from a field of 17.

Jordan finishes shooting his new film, The Butcher Boy, in Co Monaghan today.

The response from the 800 participants in the making of the film who attended yesterday's Dublin screening was overwhelmingly positive. Many felt it was powerful and highly entertaining, yet devoid of sentimentality or simplistic judgments.

Some felt it clearly implicated de Valera in the assassination of Collins, but others thought the issue was left open.