Route Irish (2010)

My friend talked about Route Irish (dir. Ken Loach) and I was eager to see it because of her enthusiastic description. Maybe I was in a bad mood while watching the film, but I was disappointed, having expected a film exploring the traumas of mercenaries. Of course, it did do that, to some extent, but for the most part, Route Irish treads the path of conventional thriller.  The main character, a tough guy, worked in Iraq as a private security contractor. What I wished for was a critical investigation of the business of these firms, providing 'services' to war-stricken countries. Even though that dimension existed, there were for example a few sour lines about firms providing both security and development projects, this was overshadowed by the main plot, which was about the frantic attempt of the main character to get clear about how his friend died. The official explanations turn out to be a cover-up of more gruesome circumstances. Ken Loch has directed many fine movies, but this was not one of them, despite of the fact that it dealt with a serious and important topic (and despite its raw depiction of Liverpool). What the film lacked was an original approach to the theme; the development of the story felt clunky and uninspired, the characters going through their characters rather one-dimensionally, fixating on one tone of voice. Cliches abounded (mostly about the state of mind of a troubled macho man), and from the get-go, I pretty much knew what to expect - which had the effect that I was alienated from the topic, I simply did not care much about it, and instead, started to observe all the clumsy attempts at showing one man's desire to attain justice and truth. In some scenes, the reality of war and the impact war has on people not directly involved in it, became apparent, but this was more an exception - because of the fairly stereotypical depiction of honest-but-tragic men and slimey villains. Route Irish has its heart in the right place, and it is justified in its critique of commercialized warfare - but as a film, it is, in my opinion, an artistic failure. Route Irish is not The Hurt Locker.