Shadow Dancer was released in 2012 by BBC Films in conjunction with Element Pictures and the Irish Film Board. The majority of the film is set in Northern Ireland in 1993.
The film begins in the 1970s with a very young Colette, the protagonist. Colette’s father asks her to go out and buy some cigarettes but she is so distracted making a necklace that she tells her younger brother to do it for her. When he leaves the house, he runs into a crossfire and is killed by who Colette believes is the British. The film flashes forward to 1993 to a much older Colette who is now an IRA volunteer. She gets arrested and taken into custody when she is caught trying to plant a bomb on a London subway. She is placed in a room with an MI5 agent who offers her a deal: agree to become an informer for the British MI5 organization or she will be sentenced to 25 years in prison and will not be able to see her young son. While giving her time to contemplate her decision, she is left with a file that contains information about her younger brother’s murder that indicates he was killed by an IRA bullet not a British one. Colette agrees to the terms and she is sent back to Ireland to serve as a double agent. She rats out an IRA operation which racks up the tension as the IRA begins to suspect they have a mole in their midst.
A funeral for a member of the IRA turns into an act of protest
Instead of choosing a side as many films of the troubles are apt to do, and cast either the British or the IRA as the villain, this movie takes a neutral stance and shows people being manipulated by their own side of the conflict. Connor, Colette’s brother, is tortured by his IRA brethren in an attempt to discover who is sharing the group’s secrets. Mac, Colette’s handler throughout the operation, is being excluded from meetings because they know he won’t agree with their decisions. By starting off the movie with the death of Colette’s young brother, it adds legitimacy to her involvement with the IRA as she views the British as murderers. However, this black and white view isn’t as clear when she hears that her brother was actually killed by an Irish Republic bullet. Mac also goes out of his way to help Colette even though he keeps getting stopped by people within his organization. Both sides display a Machiavellian approach to issues; MI5 is willing to let one of their informers die so they can protect a more important one and the IRA are willing to torture one of their own to find the mole. There isn’t a clear cut villain in the movie since most actions are portrayed as reactionary. What this movie does show is that there is corruption on both sides of the issue.
Colette attempts to plant a bomb on a London subway
This film is unique in that both of the informers in this movie are female and this brings attention to the fact that women are also involved in the conflict even though media typically focuses on the male protagonist.
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