Nothing Personal (1995)

Despite its deliberately ironic title, Nothing Personal doesn't concentrate on the political or historical reasons for the Irish Troubles. Instead, it's about the personal cost of this conflict. The film opens with a quote from W.B. Yeats, a Protestant Irishman with Catholic sympathies: "The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere/The ceremony of innocence is drowned/The best lack all conviction, while the worst are filled with passionate intensity." This quote is famous enough that some may consider it overused, but director Thaddeus O'Sullivan seems to care less about being original (e.g., Nothing Personal shows the influence of The Battle of Aligers, which is acknowledged in the credits, and Mean Streets) than with effectively communicating his message: Violence steals people's innocence (and sometimes their lives), demoralizes the virtuous, impassions the extremists, and corrupts all sides of the fight. Of course, this isn't a new idea. As you might expect, the film doesn't offer original insight into the conflict; but, as you might hope, it does a fine job of making you care about the characters, or at least some of them. Granted, it's a little hard at first to keep track of who is fighting for what cause, but that may be an intentional statement by the filmmakers about how violence has poisoned both sides. Indeed, the spirit of violence seems to permeate the city, which takes on a personality of its own; gray by day and garishly lit by night, it looks bleak and inhospitable. In addition to providing a strong sense of place, the film also offers an excellent cast and a convincingly realistic look at the characters' lives. Unfortunately, that sense of realism is lost in a contrived, operatic conclusion, but the film will keep you emotionally involved in the story until then. ~ Todd Kristel, All Movie Guide