NOR NARJIHAH BINTI MUSLIM

“In The Name of The father”, directed by Jim Sheridan is about innocent

people convicted of crimes and sentenced heavily. The conflict in the movie began

when Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis), who grew up in Belfast, Northern Ireland,

was sent to London by his father, Giuseppe Conlon (Pete Postlethwaite), in order to

search for a better job. Unfortunately, in London, Gerry and his three other friends

were accused for the bombing of a bar in Guilford. Not only that, his father, and aunt,

also being charged with conspiracy. They finally end up in prison for more than a

decade. There are a lot of conflicts in this movie. Conflict can be defined as a state of

disharmony between incompatible or antithetical persons, ideas, or interests

(thefreedictionary.com, n.d.). In my point of view, the definition of conflict is a

disagreement which involving the parties or group of people in order to satisfy their

needs, interests or concerns.

The major conflict in this movie is injustice. Due to the injustice, there are a lot

of conflicts happen throughout the movie. The first conflict occurs between the IRA

and the British soldiers. The IRA terrorists involve in the bombing of a Guilford pub

which caused the death of five British people and 75 were seriously injured. The

bombing had caused the British parliament to pass the Prevention of Terrorism Act in

seven days. The act allowed the police to arrest any individuals or groups who were

involved in the no-warning bomb attack. During the seven days of PTA, the police

had mistakenly arrested the people who were innocent, which is the Guilford Four

and Maguire Seven. However, the police did not believe they did not involve in the

bombing. The police intentionally made them admitted the crime that they had never

did. This kind of act seriously cannot be accepted as the vital responsibility as the

police are to protect the people who are innocent.

Next, the second conflict occurs when Gerry and his father in the jail. Here, I

can obviously see the conflict of injustice occurs since discrimination happens. The

Irish people were being discriminated by the British prisoner. This conflict can be

seen when Gerry and Giuseppe introduced themselves in the jail, the British prisoner

were very angry. They threw their food towards Gerry and Giuseppe. One of the

British prisoners said to Gerry and Giuseppe, “Get that fucking scum off my floor”.

This kind of statement made by the British prisoner showed that Irish people were not

welcome in their community, even in the prison.

The third conflict can be seen in the relationship of Gerry and his father,

Giuseppe. Due to the injustice, they were arrested and both of them had to live in the

same cell in the jail. Although they were father and son, they had different

personalities which lead to misunderstanding and disagreement of their views. In the

cell, Gerry always yelled at his father and he rose up all of his dissatisfactions since

he was a kid until he grown up. He also got mad towards his father since his father

always thought that he was no good in the family. For example, when Giuseppe said,

“I want you to have some respects”, and Gerry asked, “Respect for whom?” Then

Giuseppe said, “For yourself”. Giuseppe tried to make Gerry to be a better person,

but Gerry refused to because he never liked the way his father treated or advised

him.

Apart from those conflicts, the conflict between Gerry and the lawyer, Gareth

Pierce, also occurs in the movie. Due to the injustice, Miss Pierce had the gut to re-

open the case of Gerry and his father. Gerry’s father, Giuseppe, supported Miss

Pierce and he was willing to involve in the appeal process. However, at first, Gerry

was completely disagreed with her and he did not want to involve in the campaign at

all. He said that Miss Pierce was giving him false hope. When she had the

conversation with Gerry, she said, “It’s your lack of faith”. Then, Gerry asked, “Lack of

faith? Faith of what?” Miss Pierce answered, “In yourself”. However, Miss Pierce

convinced him by telling him, “I have faith in myself. Gerry Conlon. Lifer. 30 years

sentence and I know how to survive it. No problem”. After that, Gerry agreed to

involve with the appeal process.

In order to resolve the injustice conflict, the case of Gerry was re-opened. Miss

Pierce tried to make another appeal in order to prove that Gerry and his father were

innocent. Gerry, who was at first refused to take part in the campaign, was

completely against the lawyer’s efforts. His father, Giuseppe, tried to convince him to

take part in the campaign, instead of involving in the riot made by the real bombing

culprit, Joseph McAndrew. Giuseppe said that if he continued following Joe, Gerry

would get into trouble. So, he asked Gerry to stop and took part with the campaign

for the appealing process. Then, Gerry realized that it was a mistake to believe what

Joe had said when Joe suddenly tried to burn Baker, the prison officer. Then, he

decided to follow his father by taking part in the campaign. Although he was not too

confident to do that, he tried to since he knew that his father was really sick. He

wanted to make his father happy and fix up their father and son relationship.

Then, Gareth Pierce successfully re-opened the case. She tried very hard for

the appeal. Finally, she found a file written ‘Not to be shown to the defense’. After

that, she knew that she got the new evidence that can be the alibi for Gerry Conlon

and Paul Hill. It was the statement of the old man, Charlie Burke. The police knew

about it and they were not exposing the document since they were too ashamed that

they got the wrong people just to save their careers. Finally, at the moment the judge

said, “In the matter of Her Majesty, versus Gerard Patrick Conlon the case is hereby

dismissed”, everything was resolved. Gerry was innocent and he was free from the

charge. “I’m a free man, and I’m going out the front door”.

From my point of view, “In The Name of the Father” is a good movie to be

watched. It contains a lot of moral values. One of them is respecting our own father.

We should not yell or get mad towards our father because no matter what, he is still

the one who raises us up and sacrifices a lot. Then, I also learned that miscarriage of

justice will make the innocent people suffer. I really admire the character of Giuseppe

in this movie. He is so determined. Even though he knows that he might die soon, he

never gives up in order proving that he and his son do not do the bombing.

(1156 words)