Review: Irish Hero Lionized In 'Veronica Guerin'
Journalist Credited For Putting Dent In Drug Trade
UPDATED: 9:47 p.m. EDT October 22, 2003
'Veronica Guerin' (R) 
(out of four popcorns)
I think I have a new hero.
Veronica Guerin was an Irish journalist who never took the easy path in chasing slimy drug gangs from under their rocks of respectability. In her words, "I don't want to do it, I have to do it."
Guerin went to the places and faced the people that even the government and police turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to.
Drugs were everywhere in Dublin -- even tiny children on the playground played around with discarded hypodermic syringes. But Irish laws never hurt the drug dealers where it hurt -- in their pocketbooks. Before 1998, the government couldn't seize the assets or money of convicted drug dealers, even if it was proven that the wealth was a fruit of their illegal labors. Guerin made it her mission to identify and bring to justice the kingpins of the drug trade in her country and she paid for it with her life.
According to Cate Blanchett's portrayal, Guerin was a plucky bulldog of an investigator who would walk into the deepest darkest vipers den with a chipper quip, a smile on her face and a steely look of determination in her eyes. We are used to seeing Blanchett play very fragile, delicate women or women of regal bearing -- but in "Veronica Guerin" Blanchett is a revelation -- her beaming face, fast-talking style and wicked, yet grounded, sense of humor brings to life a woman who was a hero to many people in Ireland.
Guerin was beaten. She was shot. But she never backed down from her mission to stop the people who were killing Ireland's children. The only ones who ever saw her fear were her family because her biggest weapon was her fearlessness. Guerin never blended, she even drove a shiny red sports car at top speeds. Her biggest asset, at least as shown in this film, were a family who were scared to death for her, but never made her choose between them and her determination to make a difference.
Director Joel Schumacher does a masterful job of not gilding a story that already had enough drama for three movies. He is respectful of the Irish ways. In fact, in may take you a while to attune your ear to the rhythms of the Irish language before you start to really understand what is being said.
Schumacher also uses the most exquisite music to bring home the gravity of Guerin's death and how it inspired the people and the government to make changes.
Blanchett's performance is so much a force of nature that the other characters aren't as sharply drawn -- except for Brenda Fricker as Guerin's mother. The drug lords and thugs tend to be interchangeable at first until the brutal Jimmy Gilligan comes into focus as the primary symbol of what Guerin is fighting.
Schumacher also, for the most part, wisely cuts out the fancy camera tricks and effects and lets the story do the talking. He does indulge a bit near the end, but that can be forgiven.
This is the way a biographical film should be made -- without heightened suspense, without heroics and without a need to improve the story. "Veronica Guerin" was remarkable, just the way she was.
(out of four popcorns)
I think I have a new hero.
Veronica Guerin was an Irish journalist who never took the easy path in chasing slimy drug gangs from under their rocks of respectability. In her words, "I don't want to do it, I have to do it."
Guerin went to the places and faced the people that even the government and police turned a deaf ear and a blind eye to.
Drugs were everywhere in Dublin -- even tiny children on the playground played around with discarded hypodermic syringes. But Irish laws never hurt the drug dealers where it hurt -- in their pocketbooks. Before 1998, the government couldn't seize the assets or money of convicted drug dealers, even if it was proven that the wealth was a fruit of their illegal labors. Guerin made it her mission to identify and bring to justice the kingpins of the drug trade in her country and she paid for it with her life.
According to Cate Blanchett's portrayal, Guerin was a plucky bulldog of an investigator who would walk into the deepest darkest vipers den with a chipper quip, a smile on her face and a steely look of determination in her eyes. We are used to seeing Blanchett play very fragile, delicate women or women of regal bearing -- but in "Veronica Guerin" Blanchett is a revelation -- her beaming face, fast-talking style and wicked, yet grounded, sense of humor brings to life a woman who was a hero to many people in Ireland.
Guerin was beaten. She was shot. But she never backed down from her mission to stop the people who were killing Ireland's children. The only ones who ever saw her fear were her family because her biggest weapon was her fearlessness. Guerin never blended, she even drove a shiny red sports car at top speeds. Her biggest asset, at least as shown in this film, were a family who were scared to death for her, but never made her choose between them and her determination to make a difference.
Director Joel Schumacher does a masterful job of not gilding a story that already had enough drama for three movies. He is respectful of the Irish ways. In fact, in may take you a while to attune your ear to the rhythms of the Irish language before you start to really understand what is being said.
Schumacher also uses the most exquisite music to bring home the gravity of Guerin's death and how it inspired the people and the government to make changes.
Blanchett's performance is so much a force of nature that the other characters aren't as sharply drawn -- except for Brenda Fricker as Guerin's mother. The drug lords and thugs tend to be interchangeable at first until the brutal Jimmy Gilligan comes into focus as the primary symbol of what Guerin is fighting.
Schumacher also, for the most part, wisely cuts out the fancy camera tricks and effects and lets the story do the talking. He does indulge a bit near the end, but that can be forgiven.
This is the way a biographical film should be made -- without heightened suspense, without heroics and without a need to improve the story. "Veronica Guerin" was remarkable, just the way she was.
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