The Crying Game - 1992

The Crying Game is a 1992 psychological thriller drama film written and directed by Neil Jordan. The film explores themes of race, gender, nationality, and sexuality against the backdrop of the Irish Troubles. The original working title of the film was The Soldier's Wife.

The Crying Game is about the experiences of the main character, Fergus (Stephen Rea), as a member of the IRA, his brief but meaningful encounter with Jody (Forest Whitaker) who is held prisoner by the group, and his unexpected romantic relationship with Jody's girlfriend, Dil (Jaye Davidson) whom Fergus promised Jody he would protect. However, unexpected events force Fergus to decide what he wants for the future, and ultimately what his nature dictates he must do.

The film opens as a psychological thriller - IRA foot soldier Fergus and a unit of other IRA fighters, including a woman named Jude and led by Maguire, kidnap Jody, a black British soldier. The IRA demands the release of other jailed IRA members, threatening to execute Jody in three days if their demands are not met. While the amiable Fergus guards Jody, they develop a bond - much to the chagrin of the other IRA men. During this time, Jody tells Fergus the story about the frog and the scorpion.

Veronica Guerin - 2003

I love just about EVERYTHING actress Cate Blanchett does. This is another one you may have missed that is based on a true story. A brilliant performance!  Have a Cate Blanchett MARATHON MOVIE night and you'll see 'catch my drift'.


Veronica Guerin, nicknamed "Ronnie", and her four siblings were born in Dublin and attended Catholic school where she excelled in athletics. Besides basketball and football, she was a camogie player and a fan of the Manchester United football team. Veronica Guerin's father was an accountant, and she studied accountancy at Trinity College, Dublin. After graduation, her father hired her at his company. When her father died three years later, she changed professions and started a public relations firm, which she ran for seven years. In 1983-4, she served as secretary to the Fianna Fáil group at the New Ireland Forum.


In 1990, she changed careers again, switching to journalism as a reporter with the Sunday Business Post and Sunday Tribune. In 1994, she began to write about criminals for Irish newspaper the Sunday Independent. She used street names or pseudonyms for underworld figures to avoid Irish libel laws. When she began to cover drug dealers, she received numerous death threats.


The first violence against her occurred in October, 1994 when two shots were fired into her home after her story on a murdered drug kingpin was published. Guerin dismissed the "warning". Three months later, she answered her doorbell to a man pointing a revolver at her head. The assailant shot her in the leg. Regardless, she vowed to continue her investigations. Independent Newspapers installed a security system to protect her, and the Garda Síochána (Irish police) gave her a 24-hour escort; however, she did not approve of this, saying that it hampered her work.


On 13 September 1995, convicted criminal John Gilligan attacked her when she confronted him about his lavish lifestyle with no source of income. He later called her at home and threatened to kidnap and rape her son and kill her if she wrote anything about him. Guerin received the International Press Freedom Award from the Committee to Protect Journalists in December, 1995.


This film is the second to be inspired by Guerin's story. Three years earlier, When the Sky Falls centred on the same story, although the names of the real-life characters were changed.