Joel Schumacher’s Veronica Guerin is a film dedicated to the life of Veronica Guerin, a young journalist from Dublin who fought against Ireland’s drug barons during her career. Her articles, as well as her investigation into those responsible for drug trafficking, earned her numerous threats and assaults, which eventually led to the dismantling of the drug traffickers… but also to the murder of Veronica Guerin herself.
Veronica Guerin movie poster – Veronica Guerin
In the mid-90s, drug barons took over Dublin. Between gang power struggles, drug trafficking and the distribution of their merchandise to an increasingly young clientele, their influence is growing. Faced with this situation, Veronica Guerin, a young journalist from Dublin, decides to uncover the activities of her traffickers, and gather the evidence needed to put them out of business. What follows is a perilous investigation in which she rubs shoulders with the dangerous underworld of Ireland’s most powerful drug barons.
The relevance of her articles published in the Sunday Independent made her a nuisance for the traffickers, who decided to suppress her… Assassination attempts and intimidation were the daily lot of Veronica Guerin, who decided, despite the threats, to carry on with her investigation as best she could.
She was shot dead in 1996, but her murder helped raise public awareness of her anti-drug work, imprison her killers, and revise laws in the Constitution allowing the seizure of the assets of criminals guilty of laundering drug money.
Veronica Guerin is a veritable icon in Ireland, and Joel Schumacher used this film to pay her a fitting tribute. He portrays a woman of great courage, persevering and refusing to give in to anything stronger than herself.
Halfway between anguish, recklessness and the desire to go all the way, whatever the cost, Veronica Guerin is portrayed as a woman with an unshakeable sense of civic responsibility. Despite the threats made to her family, her son, and herself, despite the injuries inflicted, the assaults, and despite the worried disapproval of those closest to her, she can’t help but want to unravel the whole affair.
Her casual approach to drug dealers, and her aplomb when questioning them, are simply out of the ordinary, and a testament to her courage. Between her quest for the truth and her thirst to see her attackers brought down, Veronica Guerin is sometimes on the verge of insolence and recklessness.
If Joel Schumacher has managed to move us with a colorful character, he also owes it to Cate Blanchett, whose performance is to be commended. The actress’s reputation and the quality of her work have always been a leitmotiv in the world of cinema. And it’s by playing a disturbingly realistic Veronica Guerin that she once again establishes herself as a major figure in Hollywood cinema.
Veronica Guerin is therefore a very good film.
The subject was well explored, and the investigation well conducted. Joel Schumacher delivers an unpretentious film that pays tribute to an exemplary journalist whose courage will not leave viewers unmoved.
4.00/5 (9 votes)
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