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Two strong performances, by the character actors Timothy Spall and Colm Meaney, propel "The Journey," a fictionalized take on a slice of real history: the talks that brought peace to Northern Ireland in 2006.
Spall plays the Rev. Ian Paisley, the founder of the Democratic Unionist Party, the loyalist Protestants who resisted the Catholic-dominated Irish Republican Army's calls that Northern Ireland be separated from the United Kingdom. Meaney plays Martin McGuinness, chief negotiator for Sinn Fein, the IRA's political wing, and once a leader of one of the IRA's paramilitary groups. ("Allegedly," McGuinness adds when the paramilitary part of his biography is mentioned.)
"They are 'The Troubles.' They are civil war. They are anarchy," a veteran MI5 observer, Harry Patterson (played by John Hurt, in his last role), informs his young subordinate, Jack (Freddie Highmore), in one of the many telegraphing moments in Colin Bateman's script.
The story, in the mold of "The Queen" or "Frost/Nixon," imagines a fictional conversation between these two famous figures. The contrivance is that, in the middle of peace talks at St. Andrews in Scotland, Paisley aims to fly home to Belfast for a party to mark his 50th wedding anniversary. Sinn Fein agrees to the interruption in talks, but only if McGuinness comes along. The Glasgow airport is socked in by rain, but they can get a plane in Edinburgh, an hour's drive away — in a van, driven by Jack, who's patched in via surveillance cameras monitored by Patterson and by British Prime Minister Tony Blair (Toby Stephens).
It's a tensely silent ride, even with Jack egging the two old foes on with random comments. Eventually, the men do start talking — though the garrulous McGuinness says more than the rigidly evangelical Paisley. When the subject of movies comes up, we learn that Paisley hasn't been to the pictures since 1973, and that was to lead a protest against "The Exorcist."
Through more conversations, the two men lay out the reasons each loathes and distrusts the other. Paisley sees himself as a servant of God, and McGuinness and his IRA as nothing more than terrorists. McGuinness argues that his side were freedom fighters, evoking the examples of George Washington and Nelson Mandela, and that Paisley's embrace of the British military's occupation of Ulster exacerbated the tensions there.
Bateman and director Nick Hamm ("Killing Bono," "Godsend"), both born in Northern Ireland, labor mightily to turn this intractable political debate into a compelling drama. The results are occasionally didactic, more a reading of position papers than a real conversation, and the dramatic license taken seems more fitting for a stage play than a movie.
When Spall and Meaney get rolling, though, the tension is invigorating. They take different approaches to the characters — Spall slicks back his hair and wears ill-fitting dentures to imitate Paisley's mannerisms, while Meaney internalizes McGuinness' defiance and war-weariness more — but the results are often electric, making "The Journey" worth the effort as a two-handed drama of old soldiers learning to reconcile for the sake of the future.
HHH
'The Journey'
Two old enemies talk about peace in Northern Ireland in this well-acted fictionalized account of historical events.
Where • Broadway Centre Cinemas.
When • Opens today.
Rating • PG-13 for thematic elements including violent images and language.
Running time • 95 minutes.