Shake Hands with the Devil

Dublin, 1921. Sean Lenihan teaches surgery at the university and also commands a unit of the Irish Republican Army. Kerry O'Shea, an American medical student, wants no part of it, but once British soldiers make him a target he has to choose a side. The film is not interested in the cause of independence. It is interested in what war does to a man: when a truce is proposed Lenihan refuses peace, because he does not know who he would be without the fight. He is drawn not as a hero but as a man who has hardened. The form is black and white and built on real locations: it was shot in Ireland, and the texture of the street scenes is unusually bare for a period film. James Cagney plays Lenihan. Known for gangster parts, he takes on one of the hardest characters of his late career here, with Don Murray and Dana Wynter in support. Michael Anderson directed. Who it is for: viewers interested in Irish history and classical political thrillers. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a balanced political picture. The British soldiers are drawn in one dimension and the historical context is thinly sketched.