''Route Irish'' is a 2010 drama-thriller film directed by

Ken Loach Kenneth Charles Loach (born 17 June 1936) is a British film director and screenwriter. His socially critical directing style and socialist ideals are evident in his film treatment of social issues such as poverty (''Poor Cow'', 1967), homelessne ...

and written by

Paul Laverty Paul Laverty (born 1957) is a screenwriter and lawyer best known for his screenplays for films directed by Ken Loach. Birth and early career Paul Laverty was born in Calcutta, West Bengal, to an Irish mother and Scottish father. He was educat ...

. It is set in

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

and focuses on the consequences suffered by

private security contractor A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...

s after fighting in the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. The title comes from the

Baghdad Airport Road The Baghdad Airport Road is a 12-kilometre (7.5 mi) stretch of highway in Baghdad, Iraq linking the Green Zone, a heavily fortified area at the centre of Baghdad, to Baghdad International Airport (BIAP). It also links different parts of Bagh ...

, known as "Route Irish". The film was a British-French co-production. It was selected for the main competition at the

2010 Cannes Film Festival The 63rd Cannes Film Festival was held from 12 to 23 May 2010, in Cannes, France. The Cannes Film Festival, hailed as being one of the most recognized and prestigious film festivals worldwide, was founded in 1946. It consists of having films scr ...

. Philip French, in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'', wrote that the film reprises several themes in Loach's films, such as state-sanctioned crime, the brutality of war, the exploitation of the underclass and harsh treatment of native populations.French, Philip
Route Irish – review
The ''

Observer An observer is one who engages in observation or in watching an experiment. Observer may also refer to: Computer science and information theory * In information theory, any system which receives information from an object * State observer in con ...

'', 20 March 2011. Retrieved 30 March 2011

Plot

The film opens on a ferry in

, as Fergus Molloy (

Mark Womack Mark Edward Womack (born 9 January 1961) is an English actor, known for starring in '' Liverpool 1'', '' Sorted'' and Willy Russell's ''Dancin thru' The Dark''. In 2020, he appeared in the ITV soap opera ''Emmerdale'' as DI Mark Malone. Person ...

) remembers the final messages sent to him by his lifelong friend Frankie (

John Bishop John Marcus Bishop (born 30 November 1966) is an English comedian, presenter, actor and former footballer. Bishop formerly played football as a midfielder for Winsford United F.C., Crewe Alexandra F.C., Runcorn F.C., Rhyl F.C., Witton Al ...

), whose funeral he is to attend. The night before, Fergus unseals his friend's coffin to see his friend's badly injured corpse. At the funeral, Haynes (Jack Fortune) a director of the

private military company A private military company (PMC) or private military and security company (PMSC) is a private company providing armed combat or security services for financial gain. PMCs refer to their personnel as "security contractors" or "private military ...

that Fergus and Frankie worked for, gives a eulogy praising Frankie and describing military contractors as the "unsung heroes of our time". Afterwards, Haynes and Walker ( Geoff Bell) explain to Frankie's family the circumstances of his death, though Fergus remains embittered and closely questions the two men. Later at the wake, Fergus attacks Haynes when he sees him distributing his business card to enlisted soldiers there. Marisol (

Najwa Nimri Najwa Nimri Urrutikoetxea (; born 14 February 1972) is a Spanish actress and singer. Early life Nimri's mother is from Pamplona and her father, Karam Nimri, is Jordanian. She has a brother named Karim Nimri, a half-brother named Andre Nimri an ...

) bequeaths a package to Fergus, which Frankie had entrusted to a mutual friend with a note asking it be given to Fergus. With the help of Harim (Talib Rasool), an Iraqi musician, Fergus discovers a video on the phone which shows a member of Frankie's team killing an innocent Iraqi family a few weeks before his death. Fergus becomes suspicious, and has friends still working for the firm in Iraq investigate the incident, but it has not been recorded.

Cast

as Fergus Molloy *

Andrea Lowe Andrea Lowe (born 1 May 1975 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, Arnold, Nottinghamshire) is an English actress. Career She started her theatre career at Sheffield's Crucible Theatre in the play ''The Birthday Party (play), The Birthday Party'' by Ha ...

as Rachel *

as Frankie * Geoff Bell as Alex Walker * Jack Fortune as Andrew Haynes * Talib Rasool as Harim * Craig Lundberg as Craig * Trevor Williams as Nelson * Russel Anderson as Tommy * Jamie Michie as Jamie *

Stephen Lord Stephen Lord (born 1 October 1971) is an English actor, known for playing Jase Dyer in the BBC soap opera ''EastEnders'' from 2007 to 2008 and Dominic Meak in the Channel 4 comedy drama series, '' Shameless'', between 2012 and 2013. In 2021, ...

as Steve *

as Marisol * Anthony Schumacher as Andy *Tess as Tess the three legged dog

Production

Ken Loach's company Sixteen Films co-produced the film with France's Why Not Productions and

Wild Bunch The Wild Bunch, also known as the Doolin–Dalton Gang, or the Oklahombres, were a gang of American outlaws based in the Indian Territory in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. They were active in Kansas, Missouri, Arkansas, and Oklahoma Terr ...

. It received funding from

France 2 France 2 () is a French public national television channel. It is part of the state-owned France Télévisions group, along with France 3, France 4 and France 5. France Télévisions also participates in Arte and Euronews. Since 3:20 CET on 7 ...

and North West Vision Media. Principal shooting took place on location in Liverpool with one week of shooting in

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Rive ...

, standing in for Iraq. The film reunited Loach with cinematographer

Chris Menges Chris Menges BSC, ASC (born 15 September 1940) is a British cinematographer and film director. He is a member of both the American and British Societies of Cinematographers. Life and career Menges was born in Kington, Herefordshire, the son ...

who had worked on several of the director's films in the past, including '' Kes''. The character Craig was played by actual Iraq war veteran Craig Lundberg, whom the writer had encountered while doing research. The

waterboarding Waterboarding is a form of torture in which water torture, water is poured over a cloth covering the face and breathing passages of an immobilized captive, causing the person to experience the sensation of drowning. In the most common method ...

scene was performed for real on actor Trevor Williams, after the results had not been satisfactory during earlier attempts at merely staging the act. Despite the knowledge that he was safe, the filming left the actor deeply disturbed and caused "weeks of panic attacks". For a Ken Loach film, ''Route Irish'' uses an unusually high amount of stunt scenes and pyrotechnics.

Release

''Route Irish'' was first shown on 20 May at the

, in competition as part of the official selection. According to festival general Thierry Fremaux, the film was not finished in time for the ordinary cut-off date. However, producer Rebecca O'Brien submitted it anyway as soon as it was ready, and it was accepted as a late addition only two days before the festival started. Ken Loach said in an interview that the team never considered having it ready for Cannes, but when it turned out that they were ahead of the schedule the French co-producers pushed for a submission. The film was released generally in France on 16 March 2011, and on the 18th in the United Kingdom. It was nominated for a

Magritte Award A Magritte Award (french: ) is an accolade presented by the Académie André Delvaux of Belgium to recognize cinematic achievement in the film industry. Modelled after the French César Award, the formal ceremony at which the awards are presented ...

in the category of Best Foreign Film in Coproduction in 2012, but lost to ''

Romantics Anonymous ''Romantics Anonymous'' (french: Les Émotifs anonymes) is a 2010 French-Belgian romantic comedy film directed by Jean-Pierre Améris and starring Benoît Poelvoorde and Isabelle Carré. It received three nominations at the 2nd Magritte Awards, win ...

''.

References

External links

Official page
on Sixteen Films, Loach's production company
Film page
on daphana.fr *
Video interview with Loach
from the

University of Warwick The University of Warwick ( ; abbreviated as ''Warw.'' in post-nominal letters) is a public research university on the outskirts of Coventry between the West Midlands (county), West Midlands and Warwickshire, England. The university was founded i ...

Interview with Ken Loach
interview about ''Route Irish'' in the ''

Oxonian Review ''The Oxonian Review'' is a literary magazine produced by postgraduate students at the University of Oxford. Every fortnight during term time, an online edition is published featuring reviews and essays on current affairs and literature. It is ...

'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Route Irish 2010 films Belgian thriller drama films 2010 thriller drama films British thriller drama films English-language Belgian films English-language French films English-language Spanish films English-language Italian films Films directed by Ken Loach Films scored by George Fenton Films set in Liverpool Films set in Iraq French thriller drama films Iraq War films Films shot in Jordan Films shot in Wales 2010 drama films 2010s English-language films 2010s British films 2010s French films