Rated (Unknown)

Directed by John Furse

Starring Linus Roache, Ian Hart and Mohamad Chamas

Heidi’s Illustrious Rating: 4

Word of Warning: Some scenes of torture, but not gruesome.

I’ve had this film recorded on my DVR for some time. It is based on the true story of the 1986 kidnapping of Irish professor of literature Brian Keenan and English journalist John McCarthy. The two, who were both in Beirut, Lebanon at the time, were kidnapped by Islamic extremists. Keenan was held for four and half years and McCarthy was held for five and a half.

The movie is based on Keenan’s memoir “An Evil Cradling.” The movie received little notice in the United States, but was nominated for six awards and won a BAFTA (British Academy of Film & Television Arts).

English actors Linus Roache and Ian Hart are known in the United States for their current roles on American television shows. Roache plays Assistant District Attorney Michael Cutter on “Law & Order,” and Hart plays the paparazzo Don Konkey on FX’s “Dirt.” These two roles do little justice to the two men’s abilities as solid dramatic film actors. Hart has appeared in such films as “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone,” and Roache is a former member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

“Blind Flight” is a character study of two men trapped in a situation so terrifying it is difficult for the viewer to imagine how it would feel; the performances by Roache and Hart, however, give us a pretty good idea. Their portrayal of the human mind’s capabilities to keep the body going is unnerving. The two waste away before the viewers eyes, but only in flesh. Somehow, the two men were able to maintain their sanity in a insane situation. For years they lived in their own filth, being moved only several times to smaller and smaller holding rooms. They were fed little and in constant fear that their captors will kill them. But even in their lowest points they get glimpses of humanity – in each other and even in their captors.

“Blind Flight” is slow, but the performances are outstanding, the themes intriguing and I highly recommend it.