Angel aka Danny Boy (1982)

Neil Jordan’s (The Crying Game, Interview with the Vampire) debut film, an ambiguous revenge thriller set against a backdrop of sectarian violence.

Mixing film noir with the poetic, Angel sees Jordan regular Stephen Rea starring as Danny, a sax –player in a show band. Ray (Peter Caffrey), the band’s manager has been making payments to the IRA, though Jordan never names any particular organisation. Loyalist’s retaliate by executing Ray after a gig and torching the dance hall. Danny witnesses the killing and that of a mute girl he paired up with after the show. Haunted by what he has seen Danny hunts down the men one by one, until he returns to the burnt out remains of the hall to face their leader.

Danny tells the police nothing, but he knows more than he’s letting on. One of the men had a limp and wore specially modified shoes. Danny tracks him down to the shop he works in and follows him. The killing is almost accidental; Danny just wants to talk to him, but the man tries to hide behind a door. Doors are never an effective hiding place from bullets. Later Danny goes back for the man’s machine-gun and places it in his music case El Mariachi style.

The police naturally take an interest in Danny, first as a witness and then as a potential suspect. The enigmatic Inspector Bloom (the late, great Ray McAnally) behaves kindly towards him, but seems to have his own agenda. Bloom is Jewish and therefore outside the sectarian divide, but he watches over events with an air of resignation and talks about evil as if it is a real entity. The menacing sergeant Bonner (the late, great Donal McCann) is more hostile, although Bloom keeps him in check.

Jordan’s dialogue often takes the form of a series of questions, as people talk around each other, trying to find out what the other knows without giving anything away. Saying the wrong thing to the wrong person could prove fatal. Despite being a revenge flick, Angel is a humane film. Unlike Jordan’s recent The Brave One, this compassion is even extended towards the killers, who are not violent animals living outside the law, but part of their communities.

There are religious allusions throughout the film and also a hint of the supernatural. A boy healer who claims to be able to perform miracles is present at the film’s finale. Danny’s aunt May reads cards, but gave up her act at the seaside because the ace of spades, the card synonymous with death, kept turning up. Chris Menges cinematography makes Ireland look desolate, with the exception of the bright colours and neon lights used when the band are performing. As the film nears its end a wind picks up getting stronger and stronger as if it was a harbinger to an apocalypse.

Angel remains one of Jordan’s least known works, although it is essential viewing for anybody seeking to understand the work of this gifted, if occasionally erratic (High Spirits, yikes) director.

Kevin Sturton