Blind Flight film review

certificate_15

BLIND FLIGHT

Held hostage together for four and a half years in the 1980s, the story of Brian Keenan and John McCarthy touched the nation's hearts during their incarceration in the Lebanon. Keenan's subsequent book on the subject, An Evil Cradling, became a bestseller and provides the material for this dramatic reconstruction of the two men's ordeal.

Both Keenan and McCarthy were innocent victims of a struggle that was complicated enough to challenge even experts on the Middle East. Snatched from their jobs (as a teacher and journalist respectively), they became unwilling pawns in a political chess game. The film doesn't dwell on the politics, instead concentrating on the bond that developed between the two men. As a result, the detail of life as a political hostage is told in grim detail. Both lived with the constant fear of death or beatings. They never saw their guards, being forced to wear blindfold when they were fed or attended to. Being moved from one grimy cell to another also had an indelible psychological effect on both men.

Hart and Roache are hugely effective in what is essentially a two-hander. As Keenan, Hart gives the Irishman an uncompromising rawness: the inevitable disdain he feels at being cooped up with an Englishman is all too obvious. Roache gives McCarthy a more sensitive demeanour, and portrays a caring man who helps his cellmate through some very dark hours.

The screenplay, which had heavy involvement from both men, tends at times to eschew any dramatic line in order to concentrate on the men's hardship. As a result it comes across as rather episodic and there is little to indicate the passage of time. The captors are often one-dimensional, there is scant reference to the appeals for their freedom from home and there is no mention of any of the other hostages they were forced to live with.

Consequently - and with obvious budget limitations not helping - it is unfortunately hard to really care about the men's plight, which is probably the biggest flaw of the project. The constant cell setting gives it the feel of a stageplay turned film, and while it is likely to attract those intrigued by the real-life story, it is doubtful that it will appeal to a wider audience.