Angel (DVD)

"A fiery and fervent film that mixes the streetwise style of Scorsese with a poetry that is peculiarly Irish." The Sunday Telegraph Saxophone player Danny (Stephen Rea) watches from the shadows as his manager and a mute girl are gunned down by Irish assassins. Following one of the terrorists, the musician turns murderer in a simple act of revenge. Death begins to dominate Danny's life, his music, his friendships, his loves. It is only when he tracks down the assassins to satisfy his blood lust that he begins to recognise in them the evil grip that has taken hold of him. Neil Jordan's impeccable directing debut examines the fatal lure of violence as a solution to human problems. Informed by first-hand knowledge of the war-torn misery in Northern Ireland, Angel is a provocative essay on how the embrace of violence suffocates the human spirit.