Five Minutes of Heaven Details

[Highly rated reviewer]

Truth hurts

The film, first seen on BBC2, is about a meeting between 2 men played by Nesbitt and Neeson set in the present day with flashbacks to the times of trouble in Northern Ireland. The scene is set with the Nesbitt character on his way to the meeting arranged by a TV company.

The 'reconciliation' meeting is of such significance that the nervousness of all involved is palpable. There is huge expectation on all sides because the Nesbitt character, Joe, is the brother of a young man who had been murdered by the loyalist Neeson character in the 70's. Joe had witnessed the killing when a young boy.

The television people are very realistically portrayed as clever, manipulative and on the surface charming and kind to the protaganists but actually with no empathy or understanding of the terrible depth of feeling in both men.

I have not seen such a true performance as James Nesbitt's in this film for a very long time.

The part is extremely well written but his acting portrays painfully the agony and criss crossing feelings of a fundamentally ordinary man whose life has been twisted by horrendous events and who finds himself in this contrived media-manipulated situation.

Liam Neeson is also very believable as the man who has to live with his crimes, the sadness of a person who cannot forgive himself

manifesting itself in his every sentence and action but who has the most understanding of the man he has been set up to meet.

A wonderful film showing the aftermath of trauma in the most truthful way I have seen for some time.

5 minutes of heaven

This film proves you dont need to spend megabucks to make a good movie. 5 minutes was very emotionally involving. Part of me wanted to see griffin exact revenge where another part of me felt its what little was caught up in, as a young man, at the time of the troubles. I liked the way they combined use of real footage in tandem making the film.The camera work when the 2 of them met was outstanding. This is one I would recommend even though it was a bit short @ 1hr 26mins.