Given the serious subject matter, this adaptation of Irish writer Brendan Behan's autobiographical novel is surprisingly light and exceedingly good-natured. The film opens in WWII-era Liverpool, as 16-year-old I.R.A. soldier Brendan (American actor Shawn Hatosy, with a respectable brogue) steps off a steamer and checks into a seedy rented room. He begins to assemble a bomb. Moments later, English agents kick open the door and Brendan is arrested. Found guilty of conspiracy, but too young to be sent to prison, Brendan is packed off to Borstal, a reformatory for boys in East Anglia. It's run by the avuncular governor Joyce (Michael York), a disciplinarian only when he ...
Released:
2000
Rated:
NR
Length:
91 mins