Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) is shown in Belfast stripping lead from roofs of houses when security forces home in on the district with armoured cars, and a riot breaks out. Gerry's father, Giuseppe Conlon (Pete Postlethwaite), later saves him from IRA punishment, and he is sent off to London to stay with his aunt, for his own good. Instead, he finds a squat, to explore, as he puts it, "free love and dope." One evening by chance he gains entry to a prostitute's flat and he steals the £700 he finds there and chats briefly with a man sitting in a park; on that evening in Guildford there is an explosion at a pub that kills four off-duty soldiers and a civilian, and wounds sixty-five others.While Gerry has returned to Belfast to show off his stolen money, one of the squat residents talks to the authorities and the Conlon home is raided by the British Army and Royal Ulster Constabulary, who arrest Gerry and immediately place him on a military flight to the UK mainland. Gerry and his friend, Paul Hill (John Lynch) are interrogated by police who torture and threaten them until both finally agree to sign a confession after being held for up to seven days under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. When Gerry's father travels from Belfast to England to help his son, he is arrested at the aunt's home. In the subsequent trial, his aunt's family (known as the Maguire Seven, including Conlon's father) are convicted of supporting the bombing on the basis of nitroglycerin traces, and the four, including Gerry, are sentenced to long terms of imprisonment.

Pete Postlethwaite's and Daniel Day-Lewis' incredible reenactment of father and son wrongly convicted for the 1974 Guildford pub bombings and their different approaches on trying to get the case appealed. Their amazing on screen synergy is a big part of this films appeal which tackles a tough subject about injustice and the state of Britain at the time. Day-Lewis captures his characters' (Gerry Conlon) evolution in an Oscar worthy way and proves himself to be a very diverse actor. Supporting actor Emma Thompson delivers a touching performance as the lawyer working towards getting the case appealed.Director Jim Sheridan does a good job and uses a mix of methods to enhance a scene's importance or emotional weight. The pacing is very good and all three acts of the film are excellent. Overall it's fantastic film that seems to be very faithful to it's source material.

Whenever people ask me what is my favorite movie, this still pops to the top of my list. The beautifully told story and the humanity inside of living any of our worst nightmares couldn't be more poignant and touching. Jim Sheridan is a master storyteller who weaves moments of happiness while telling stories of people facing the worst adversities. He manages to have a film with an important message, but it draws you in with complex, real characters and grippingly beautiful storytelling.And of course it has a stellar cast with nothing but excellent performances from Daniel Day Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlethwaite. I highly recommend taking time to watch this film, you won't regret it.

This movie was not quiet terrible enough to earn a score below 6 but honestly was not anywhere near good enough to earn anything better. I feel that Daniel Day-Lewis seemed to be forcing each line out and was not portraying the character to its fullest extant. I also feel the director pushed too hard for the audience to be sympathetic towards Gerry Conlon and spent more time telling about his torture then on his time trying to secure his freedom. Then the death of his father, Giuseppe you feel as though he didn't care and that the inmates cared more about him then Gerry did. Then in the end you see that the ones responsible never were charged with the bombing and that the police who chorused the confessions didn't have to face any kind of consequences for their actions.