---
title: "In the Name of the Father"
year: 1993
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father"
fi1m_id: "in-the-name-of-the-father"
imdb_id: "tt0107207"
tmdb_id: 7984
wikidata_id: "Q304074"
fi1m_score: 83
critics_score: 79
critics_reviews: 8
published: "2026-09-14"
updated: "2026-09-18T08:38:16.367067+00:00"
region: "VN"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# In the Name of the Father (1993)

Directed by Jim Sheridan · 2h 13m · Drama

## Identity

In the Name of the Father

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father
- **Type:** Film
- **Fi1m ID:** in-the-name-of-the-father
- **IMDb ID:** tt0107207
- **TMDB ID:** 7984
- **Wikidata ID:** Q304074
- **Same entity:** https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107207/, https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/7984, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q304074

**Fi1m score: 83** · Critics 79 from 8 reviews

*In a sentence:* We came prepared for Daniel Day-Lewis to be angry, not for Pete Postlethwaite to hurt this much

> Jim Sheridan’s miscarriage-of-justice drama is angry, humane and carried by Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite. Its emotional prompting can be heavy, but the difficult relationship between father and son makes it well worth the discomfort.

## Synopsis

Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) is one of the Guildford Four, whose wrongful conviction begins a long fight for justice. His father, Giuseppe (Pete Postlethwaite), becomes central to Gerry’s reckoning with what has happened and with his own behaviour. Their relationship changes as the consequences of the miscarriage of justice reach into family life. Emma Thompson plays Gareth Peirce, alongside John Lynch as Paul Hill and Beatie Edney as Carole Richardson. Directed by Jim Sheridan, the film follows the Conlons through a struggle that brings their differences into focus.

## Review

*In the Name of the Father* is a forceful, moving drama that earns our recommendation, chiefly through Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite. Jim Sheridan takes the wrongful conviction of the Guildford Four and makes the relationship between Gerry Conlon and his father Giuseppe central to it. That is a sound decision: the injustice matters more because these men have other things to reckon with between them. The film’s determination to move us does occasionally become a little too apparent.

Day-Lewis allows Gerry to be difficult company, which is essential to the film’s honesty. We do not have to approve of him before taking his side, and Sheridan resists tidying him into someone whose innocence makes every other question about his behaviour disappear. The performance gives his personal growth weight because there is something for him to grow out of. Gerry remains a son with failings, even inside a story that has ample reason to defend him.

Postlethwaite’s Giuseppe moved us more than we expected. It is the strain in the father-son relationship that does it, especially against Day-Lewis’s unwillingness to make Gerry easy to like. We found ourselves worrying about how these two men understood each other even while the miscarriage of justice demanded our anger. The actors give that family difficulty enough importance to survive alongside the larger story.

Peter Biziou’s cinematography keeps our attention on the people, which is the right priority for a story with so much public history attached. Caroline Amies’s production design gives their surroundings a persuasive sense of use and habitation. We believe in the places these people occupy, and that helps keep the injustice from feeling remote. Neither contribution needs to announce itself, and the film benefits from that restraint.

Gerry Hambling’s editing gives the 133 minutes a purposeful forward movement without treating the family scenes as interruptions. The fight for justice stays gripping because the film keeps our concern for the Conlons close at hand. Trevor Jones’s music is less restrained, adding emotional insistence where the actors have already given us enough. It works, but we sometimes wanted the film to leave us alone with a performance.

The screenplay makes factual adjustments for emotional effect, and that is a consequential choice in a story about justice. Sheridan and co-writer Terry George are entitled to shape a drama, but we wanted more of the unease that comes from acknowledging how untidy real lives can be. Sometimes the push towards a strong emotional response makes the writing feel too settled. Gerry’s flaws help, and the performances keep the film from becoming a recital of grievances.

We ask a wrongful-conviction drama to make us care about the people as well as the case, and Sheridan succeeds at that. His film has enough anger to sustain the fight for justice without reducing everything to a demand that we choose a side. The family relationship is where its strongest work lies, particularly when liking Gerry is difficult. Watch it for the two leads, and allow a little quiet afterwards.

*Fi1m score 83, published 14 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

The reviews are unanimous in their approval, and the spread is narrow: every critic lands in the same broad band of good to strong. Most agree that the film’s anger about the Guildford Four’s wrongful conviction is its engine, and that Jim Sheridan handles the material fairly without preaching. The praise clusters on the two central performances. Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite are singled out again and again, and most critics say the father-son relationship, rather than the courtroom, is where the film does its best work.

The reservations are mild and mostly about shape. RogerEbert.com finds the middle prison stretch loses urgency and could be tighter. The New Yorker thinks the film is weaker as straight docudrama, blurring details in the trial scenes, and Time Out also notes that facts have been adjusted for emotional effect. The Independent finds it solid rather than uncomfortable. Nobody dissents on the whole; the most reserved review still calls the prison scenes precise and purposeful.

## Straight answers

**Is In the Name of the Father worth watching?**

*In the Name of the Father* is worth watching for anyone who wants a wrongful-conviction drama that cares about the people as much as the case, and we scored it 83. Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite carry it as a difficult son and his father. The music and some of the writing push for tears a little too hard, but the two leads earn the discomfort.

**How long is In the Name of the Father, and what is it rated?**

*In the Name of the Father* runs 2h 13m. It is a drama film.

**Where can I watch In the Name of the Father in Vietnam?**

*In the Name of the Father* is not on any streaming or rental service in Vietnam at the moment. It is available in 26 other countries; change your country at the top of the page to see where. Availability is checked daily.

**How violent or frightening is In the Name of the Father, and is it suitable for children?**

*In the Name of the Father* is a UK 15 and a US R, and it is a drama about a miscarriage of justice rather than a violent thriller. The distress comes from anger, prison life and a strained family relationship, not from frightening set pieces. It is not for children, and younger teenagers may find its 133 minutes heavy going.

**How does In the Name of the Father compare to The Verdict?**

*In the Name of the Father* is the angrier and more emotionally direct of the two, built around a father and son caught in a real injustice, while [*The Verdict*](https://film.one/film/the-verdict) is a quieter, more solemn courtroom story about one worn-down lawyer. Both gain force from a flawed central man, but Sheridan's film moves faster and presses harder. Choose *The Verdict* for an unhurried evening, and this for something that grips.

**What should I watch after In the Name of the Father?**

After *In the Name of the Father*, try [*The Verdict*](https://film.one/film/the-verdict) (1982, Fi1m 84): Another legal drama whose anger gains force from a flawed central character. Then [*A Separation*](https://film.one/film/a-separation) (2011, Fi1m 93): Family obligations and legal judgement become painfully tangled, without convenient villains; and [*The Hunt*](https://film.one/film/the-hunt) (2012, Fi1m 82): An accusation takes hold, and ordinary social life becomes frightening.

### Reviews we read (8)

- **Empire**, Kim Newman (85/100, inferred): This is a considerable achievement that tackles controversial material in a fair-minded but righteously wrathful manner while making the story gripping. Letter-perfect performances from Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite drive home the point about miscarriage of justice, with the father-son relationship at its heart. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/name-father-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film a model of enraged, polemical cinema that powerfully dramatizes a real miscarriage of justice while adding emotional depth through the father-son story. Day-Lewis delivers an extraordinarily convincing performance that makes viewers feel they are living the years of imprisonment alongside the character. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1993-12-29-ca-6336-story.html)
- **The New York Times**, Janet Maslin (85/100, inferred): The critic calls the film tough and riveting, praising director Jim Sheridan's plain yet resonant storytelling that indicts the bitterness between English and IRA partisans. It succeeds as both a personal tragedy and a plea for reason. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/1993/12/29/movies/review-film-name-father-sins-son-are-visited-his-father.html)
- **Variety**, Variety Staff (80/100, inferred): The review highlights the film's strong sense of time and place, outstanding characterizations, and cinematic energy that advances on Sheridan's prior work. It singles out the intense performances of Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite for particular praise. [Read](https://variety.com/1992/film/reviews/in-the-name-of-the-father-1200431309/)
- **RogerEbert.com**, Roger Ebert (75/100, inferred): The critic finds the film an angry, detailed account of the Guildford Four miscarriage of justice that excels in showing how prison changes the protagonist and deepens his bond with his father. Day-Lewis’s transformative performance anchors the story, though the middle prison sections lose some urgency and could be tighter. [Read](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/in-the-name-of-the-father-1994)
- **The Independent**, Adam Mars-Jones (75/100, inferred): The film is solid and well-crafted with moments of great power, though not as urgent or uncomfortable as it might have been earlier. It excels in depicting the father-son relationship and the personal growth of Gerry Conlon without idealising him, highlighted by strong performances from Daniel Day-Lewis and Pete Postlethwaite. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/the-big-picture-seeking-the-self-inside-not-guilty-adam-marsjones-reviews-in-the-name-of-the-father-the-gerry-conlon-story-1393380.html)
- **Time Out**, TJ (75/100, inferred): Sheridan's film passionately tells the story of the Guildford Four's wrongful conviction and long fight for justice, with some factual adjustments to heighten the emotional impact. It engages and enrages without pushing a narrow ideological agenda. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/in-the-name-of-the-father)
- **The New Yorker**, Terrence Rafferty (70/100, inferred): The review highlights the film’s strength in exploring the father-son relationship and the emotional toll of oppression in prison scenes, where it becomes precise and purposeful. It is less effective as straight docudrama, with some factual liberties and a tendency to blur details in the trial sequences. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/1994/01/24/1994-01-24-088-tny-cards-000149203)

## Details

- **Director:** Jim Sheridan
- **Director:** Jim Sheridan
- **Screenplay:** Jim Sheridan, Terry George
- **Cinematography:** Peter Biziou
- **Editor:** Gerry Hambling
- **Music:** Trevor Jones
- **Production design:** Caroline Amies
- **Costume design:** Joan Bergin
- **Producer:** Jim Sheridan
- **Cast:** Daniel Day-Lewis as Gerry Conlon; Pete Postlethwaite as Giuseppe Conlon; Emma Thompson as Gareth Peirce; John Lynch as Paul Hill; Corin Redgrave as Robert Dixon; Beatie Edney as Carole Richardson; John Benfield as Chief PO Barker; Paterson Joseph as Benbay
- **Runtime:** 2h 13m
- **First release (Ireland):** 12 December 1993
- **Genres:** Drama
- **Also in:** [Best Picture winners](https://film.one/collections/oscar-best-picture.md) (Nominee, 1993); [Golden Globe Best Drama winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-globe-drama.md) (Nominee, 1993); [Golden Bear winners](https://film.one/collections/golden-bear.md) (Winner, 1994)
- **Budget:** $13 million
- **Box office:** $66 million

## Where to watch in Vietnam

Not streaming, renting or buying in Vietnam at the last check.

Also available in: AT, AU, BE, BG, CA, CZ, DE, ES, FI, FR, GB, IE, IN, IT, LT, MX, NL, NO, NZ, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, TR, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- Academy Awards 1994: Best Actor (nominated); Best Director (nominated); Best Film Editing (nominated); Best Supporting Actor (nominated); Best Supporting Actress (nominated); Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay (nominated)
- Berlin International Film Festival 1994: Golden Bear (won)
- European Film Award for Best Film 1994: European Film Award for Best Film (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *The Verdict* (1982), Fi1m 84: Another legal drama whose anger gains force from a flawed central character. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-verdict.md)
- *A Separation* (2011), Fi1m 93: Family obligations and legal judgement become painfully tangled, without convenient villains. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/a-separation.md)
- *The Confession* (1970): A harsher account of coercion, with little comfort in knowing the truth.
- *The Hunt* (2012), Fi1m 82: An accusation takes hold, and ordinary social life becomes frightening. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-hunt.md)
- *My Left Foot* (1989), Fi1m 85: Day-Lewis gives another difficult man the full benefit of his contradictions. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/my-left-foot-the-story-of-christy-brown.md)

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father