Five Minutes of Heaven

*Five Minutes of Heaven*, Oliver Hirschbiegel's latest film, takes its title from a remark made by its protagonist, the brother of a man murdered by the IRA in northern Ireland's mid seventies. For this brother, Joe (played by James Nesbitt), the experience of revenge would bring healing solace for the consequent pain he endured. The five minutes following the assassination of his brother's assailant--and nominally before his capture, prosecution and internment in prison--would be heaven.

In the end, Joe fails to slay Alastair (played by Liam Neeson), who succeeds in defending himself against a rather slapdash (perhaps disingenuous?) attack. The audience is surprised to see Alastair, who has been gripped by paralyzing grief and suicidal guilt since his IRA days, shield himself against Joe's vengeful drive. More shocking though is the recommendation Alastair makes to Joe after the failed assault, namely that he forfeit his retaliatory quest and focus instead on raising his daughters to live free of the ressentiment that has defined Joe his entire adult life. Amazingly, Joe takes Alastair's advice. Declaring in the reconciliatory speech act, "You and I are done," Joe relinquishes his acerbity and releases Alastair from his guilt.

Nominally, I suppose, we are meant to take this conclusion to be a theory of transitional justice whereby reconciliation is achieved without the exigency to forgive a categorically unforgivable act. Though an admirable aim, the same problems which would trouble a politics of forgiveness plague this film's alternative. The power Alastair wields, as perpetrator of an unforgivable act, over Joe, the damaged victim, is perpetuated ad nauseum in Joe accepting the terms of reconciliation dictated by him. Alastair has a vested interest in reconciliation after all--it is his insurmountable guilt which must be purged. Besides Alastair, we are meant to believe Joe's children to be the beneficiaries of reconcilition insofar as Joe succeeds at preventing generational inheritance of his own incurbale indignation. And yet, it seems dubious that the incentive to be a good parent would be enough to disabuse Joe of his vehemence, which we are led to believe runs far too deep for forgiveness to be granted.

All in all, though the film invokes important questions, it develops disappointing answers.