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“’The Courier’ is a film about violence,” maintains director Frank Deasy. “Our lives are bordered by how much people around us are willing to use violence. That’s the context of our relationships.”
“The Courier” is the brainchild of Frank Deasy, who also wrote the screenplay. Deasy was responsible for establishing the first community-based anti-drugs project in the Irish Republic, and it was while working against the sheer brutality of addiction that he formed the basic ideas for this, his first feature.
Every film has its première, of course, and ‘The Courier’ was no exception. The Moss Bros dinner jackets and best frocks, however, seemed to hang better on the executive producers and plain old punters. The cast and crew wisely opted for casuals, and there was a commendable lack of back slapping when they took their bows after the screening. Although, in all the excitement, old trouper Ian Bannen, who plays bastard cop McGuigan, took hold of Declan (better known as Elvis Costello) MacManus’s rolled up programme. “I don’t know what he thought it was,” said a blushing MacManus later.
Behind all the superficial smiles of the opening night though, stands a film taking an embittered look at the society which spawned it; a society sick with vital infections, poverty, drugs, and violence.
The plot is not the work of a new John Le Carré. It is uncomplicated and contains a few flaws, but it does have ample drive and momentum. Mark (Padraig O’Loingsigh) is a motorcycle messenger. Reunited with his old flame Colette (Cait O’Riordan, better known as the Pogues’ bassist, and of course Mrs MacManus), life seems to be on the up. Their happiness is shattered when Colette’s brother Danny is drawn into crime and then to his death by ‘Uncle Val, the junkies’ pal’, played with brutal relish by the exceedingly handsome Gabriel Byrne. Mark, himself a former user, shuns the help of McGuigan and embarks on a stealthy game of cat and mouse to get revenge on the drug dealers.
The result is a most credible thriller which will no doubt surprise British audiences with its rejection of well-worn Irish images. “The Quiet Man syndrome is now over,” explains Cait O’Riordan, recalling the days when all Irish folk were measured by the performances of John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in John Ford’s classic study of the land of the bogs. ‘The Courier’ replaces rolling hills and quaint rural folk with council slums and ruthless drug dealers. The traditional Irish tunes have gone also, making way for an impressive list of musical credits including U2, Hothouse Flowers, Aslan and the aforementioned Declan MacManus who composed the unobtrusive yet complementary film score.
This musical hall of fame suggests that ‘The Courier’ is being targeted at the high drugs risk bracket of the under 30s, and rightly so. Its insistence on using untried actors such as O’Loingsigh and O’Riordan will also help steer the film away from the ‘Drugs-equals-glamour’ side effects that Hollywood usually suffers from when dealing with the subject. Hopefully, the film’s brief but explicit instances of violence and its (15) certificate will not stop too many ‘Young Impressionables’ from seeing this necessary film.
‘The Courier’ is no masterpiece, but with heroin flooding into Ireland faster than Guiness flows out, and the sad fact that the Irish Film Board was recently dismantled, Frank Deasy’s film has at least dug its feet in on two pressing issues. Go and See.
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