Ken Loach's political thriller hunted a British distributor for some time, and no wonder. For this Cannes Festival prizewinner is a very hot potato indeed. There's a distinctly anti-British and pro-IRA flavour to its powderkeg plot, which concerns the killing of an American lawyer (Brad Dourif), who formed part of an international team investigating infringements of civil liberties in Northern Ireland. A senior British detective (Brian Cox), sent to investigate the death, uncovers a past CIA plot to dump Edward Heath as prime minister, discredit Harold Wilson and wreck Labour's chances of winning the following election. But publishing his findings, despite the help of the IRA and the dead man's fiancée (Frances McDormand) is another matter. Loach describes the film as 'an important story that wasn't being told'. After the subsequent spate of miscarriages of justice, who is to say where fiction ends and the truth begins?

©ipc tx. Film content from TVTimes