''Blind Flight'' is a 2003 British film directed by John Furse and starring

Ian Hart Ian Davies (born 8 October 1964), better known by his stage name Ian Hart, is an English actor. His most notable roles are Rabbit in the Channel Four drama miniseries ''One Summer'' (1983), Joe O'Reilly in the biopic ''Michael Collins'' (1996) ...

and

Linus Roache Linus William Roache (born 1 February 1964) is a British actor. He is known for playing Executive ADA Michael Cutter in the NBC dramas ''Law & Order'' (2008–2010) and '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (2011–2012). More recently, Roach ...

. It is based on the true-life story of the kidnapping and imprisonment of the Irish academic Brian Keenan and the English journalist John McCarthy, two of the hostages in the

Lebanon hostage crisis The Lebanon hostage crisis was the kidnapping in Lebanon of 104 foreign hostages between 1982 and 1992, when the Lebanese Civil War was at its height. The hostages were mostly US, Americans and Western Europeans, but 21 national origins were repr ...

. The film is based on Keenan's memoir, '' An Evil Cradling'' and ''Some Other Rainbow'' by John McCarthy who was a screenplay consultant. The film received widespread critical acclaim, being nominated for six awards, and winning a BAFTA.

Plot

Brian Keenan, a humourless bearded Irish academic, has moved to Beirut in the mid 1980s and works as an English teacher. As he leaves for work one day, four armed men in a car kidnap him and he is incarcerated. Keenan wakes up, almost naked, alone in an iron-clad room. Initially he refuses to eat until he is told why he is being held prisoner. He is kept on his own but eventually he is moved into a cell in a deserted house, where he is joined by another hostage, the English journalist John McCarthy, who had been reporting on Keenan’s kidnapping not long before he himself was abducted. The grumpy Brit-hating Irishman and the more pliable British journalist are forced to share their small prison cell. Keenan refuses to be shaved or wear clean clothes until he gets answers from his captors. He protests about having his beard shaved off. A grumpy idealist, Keenan sees his treatment by his Muslim jailers as equaling the British historic treatment of Ireland. McCarthy is neutral and pragmatic. The two men are periodically moved around to new hiding places. The pair slowly begin to bond as they make a temporary life together, playing chess, catching mosquitoes, trapping a mouse, telling stories and imagining they are somewhere else. They become very close friends and when one man is in trouble or close to the breaking point, the other invariably helps him. Their guards treat them with a mixture of detachment, kindness and cruelty. After another move, to a small, white-tiled cell, McCarthy is traumatized after being shown a video of his mother pleading for his return. He finds strength in Keenan's own brand of self-control. The two men are smuggled to a house in the countryside. Keenan attacks a young guard who is trying to humiliate him by making him open and close a window repeatedly. He is beaten. McCarthy intercedes with the leader of the captors saying this should not have been allowed to happen. He too is beaten. Eventually in 1990 after more than four years of imprisonment, Keenan is released. He is reluctant to accept his freedom if it means leaving McCarthy behind. Back in Ireland a year later, Keenan receives a call in a pub: McCarthy is to be released. He is waiting at the airport for McCarthy to arrive home.

Cast

as Brian Keenan *

as John McCarthy *

Mohamad Chamas Mohamad Chamas is a Lebanese actor. In 1998 he was living in an orphanage, and had no acting experience, when director Ziad Doueiri cast him in a leading role in the critically acclaimed film ''West Beirut Beirut, french: Beyrouth is the c ...

as Abed * Nayef Rashed as Militia leader *

Lynn Farleigh Marilyn J. "Lynn" Farleigh (born 3 May 1942) is an English actress of stage and screen. Early life Farleigh was born in Bath, Somerset on 3 May 1942 to Joseph Sydney Farleigh and his wife Marjorie Norah (née Clark). She attended the Redlan ...

as John's Mother * Aine Ni Mhuiri as Brian's Mother * Paddy Rocks as Brian's father * Stephen Don as RUC Officer * Ziad Lahoud as Said

Home media

''Blind Flight '' is available in Region 2 DVD. It has not been released on DVD in the United States.

External links

* {{IMDb title, 0362454, Blind Flight
Director John Furse Website
2003 films British drama films 2003 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s British films