08/09/2023 - VENICE 2023: Director Robert Lorenz and actor Liam Neeson join forces once again for some rather clichéd showdowns during The Troubles in 1970s Northern Ireland

After their 2021 collaboration The Marksman, director Robert Lorenz and actor Liam Neeson join forces again for In the Land of Saints and Sinners [+see also:
trailer
film profile], premiering in the Orizzonti Extra section of the 80th Venice International Film Festival. An exquisitely Irish affair (and an entirely Irish production), the film features a hall of fame of prime national talent, including Colm Meaney, Kerry Condon, Ciarán Hinds, Sarah Greene, Niamh Cusack and Jack Gleeson in colourful support. Genre-wise, it’s a thriller with a western and even a samurai vibe, playing out during The Troubles in Northern Ireland in the early 1970s.

Our shamrock samurai is one Finbar Murphy (Neeson, if anyone’s wondering), a ruggedly agreeable army veteran-turned-bookdealer leading a seemingly peaceful existence in Donegal, in northwestern Ireland. Referred to as “the forgotten county” – effectively cut off in the 1921 partition from previously Irish areas now under UK jurisdiction – this site can only be the perfect one for someone in Finbar’s line of small business, actually not so much book-dealing as assassinating various perpetrators (really bad people, rendering Finbar a rather “likeable” hitman). His work ethic is meticulous: once the bad guy (or gal) is caught, he (or she) is handed a shovel, asked to start digging and finally – as per the egg timer – given one minute to reminisce or express regret on any existential matter. Then, ka-blam and down the ditch.

Colm Meaney is the assignment handler and Jack Gleeson the “associate” assassin when the line of baddies gets too long. In these troubled times, they are men with very regular work. When the job’s done, though, a fair share of play is always to be had, be it a malty pint and a merry jig in the pub, a friendly target-shooting game with local police officer Ciarán Hinds or a good book – Finbar’s latest scribe of choice is Dostoyevsky.

All this quaintness is promptly disrupted by an unhinged, decidedly unlikeable group of IRA bombers crashing into town, straight from a Belfast job gone bad. Led by the foul-tempered Kerry Condon, their plan to hide out until things quiet down may be ill-fated, given the presence of Finbar and his associates. With or without the swelling score (courtesy of the Baldenweg siblings, turning the volume knob up to 11), we sense a big-time showdown closing in. Actually, we sense a lot here, as In the Land of Saints and Sinners is one long succession of every cliché in the book, served with gusto and jollity by an able team of creators both behind and in front of the camera, knowing full well what they’re doing, doing it well and enjoying the ride. On the right night, and if they’re in the right mood, it may well rub off on the audience. As for County Donegal, it may well get a tiny bit less forgotten, finally and surely well-deservedly.

In the Land of Saints and Sinners is an Irish production staged by Facing East Entertainment, Ragbag Pictures and London Town Films. Its international sales are handled by Bleiberg Entertainment.