Canadian filmmaker captures rival viewpoints in IRA informant drama

Last Updated: Wednesday, December 31, 2008 | 12:40 PM ET

By Jessica Wong, CBC News

Actors Ben Kingsley (left) and Jim Sturgess pose with director Kari Skogland before a news conference for their film Fifty Dead Men Walking, in Toronto on Wednesday. (Frank Gunn/Canadian Press)Delivering a fair, brutally honest portrayal of Ireland's "Troubles" — with both British and Irish sides shown as "unique and compelling" — was Kari Skogland's goal for her new drama, Fifty Dead Men Walking, the Ottawa-based filmmaker said Wednesday.

Based on Martin McGartland's memoir of the same name, the film tells the story of a young Irish hustler, enlisted as a British informant, who infiltrates the Irish Republican Army (the title refers to the number of lives saved as a result of information he provided).

However, as the young man rises in rank as an IRA volunteer, his life — and those of his loved ones — are increasingly put at risk.

Both former IRA volunteers and members of the Royal Ulster Constabulary "embraced us and were very, very transparent with information because it was important that we be authentic, and they wanted to make sure that I told the story and I got the right voice," Skogland told reporters in Toronto Wednesday afternoon, a few hours ahead of Fifty Dead Men Walking's evening debut at the Toronto International Film Festival.

Though set in the 1980s, the pain and anger of the era continues to throb just below the surface for many in Belfast today.

"There was no question we were being watched by all sides. Our phones were tapped, and there were cameras and various things," said Skogland, who worked for years gaining the trust of officials and finding a way to safely shoot her film in Belfast.

Though British actor Jim Sturgess (McGartland) and Canadian Kevin Zegers (who portrays his childhood friend and devoted IRA member Sean) spent much time integrating themselves with and drawing stories out of former IRA volunteers and residents at pubs around Belfast, the camaraderie — with Sturgess specifically — would sometimes end abruptly.

"They would really kind of pump up Kevin and really ignore me, not speak to me for days, even though I felt like we had become friends," Sturgess said.

'There was no question we were being watched by all sides. Our phones were tapped, and there were cameras and various things.'—Director Kari Skogland

The filming of a scene in which his character is officially sworn into the IRA "was such an emotional day for everybody," Sturgess recalled. At first, he didn't understand why some of the local advisers on set were behaving strangely and eventually broke down.

"I realized that these people were just reliving the moment," Sturgess said. "Everyone was recalling this really intense moment."

Irish-American actress Rose McGowan, who portrays a senior IRA official in the film, also spent time inside the homes of "lovely" former volunteers, where they discussed "What would happen if Martin McGartland just came in here?" she told reporters.

Her hosts' nonchalant response — after having "just finished saying how they'd be decorating their Christmas tree" — startled her.

"We'd shoot him. Dead. Would you like more cider?"

The IRA announced an end to their armed campaign in 2005, but when the film began shooting in late 2007, it was just six months after the last of the British troops pulled out, Skogland said.

"We were at the nexus of change," she said. "We definitely got the sense that [Belfast] was at a real 'move forward' place."

Jim Sturgess, left, and Ben Kingsley in a scene from the film Fifty Dead Men Walking (Jonathan Freeman)For veteran actor Ben Kingsley, who plays the British handler to Sturgess's character, having a female director made the film more compelling.

"The examination of male violence and male vulnerability has never been so thoroughly and gracefully examined," he said, also praising the writer-director for infusing the predominantly male story with women, through subplots like a pregnancy and a birth as well as showing angry, grieving mothers.

"The female perspective on this film cannot be underestimated," Kingsley said.

As a woman, Skogland said, she avoided glorifying any of the violence, calling it "ugly wherever it happens. It's fast. It's painful to watch. It's difficult to watch."

However, she also pointed to her nationality as a key factor in the way she chose to tell the story.

"I came in and was embraced by the community because of my transparency and my curiosity to tell their story and having them tell me their story," she said.

"It was very, very important to me that both sides were presented as unique and compelling — as each side was — so that [through the] characters, we understand both sides … I think that is a uniquely Canadian perspective."

The real McGartland, who continues to live in hiding today after escaping two assassination attempts, initially opposed the film and threatened legal action because of some deviations from his memoir.

However, after seeing the completed film this week, he settled his differences with producers, praising the performances in an interview with Reuters.

"The more I watch it, I just love it," McGartland said in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location in the U.K.