Closing the Ring

Viewer Rating:HSP has rated Closing the Ring rating: 3 Star

Anyone who likes movies with numerous flashbacks has plenty here to help them lose interest. It's hard enough to work out who is who with a 50 year gap dropping in without notice & the relevance to why we are in a rollercoaster time machine. It took an hour for it to fit into shape & become clear what the hell was going on. I am not saying it is a bad movie but it's complicated where it doesn't need to be. It's basically the story of 3 young US airmen in 1941 who all are in love with the same girl Ethel Ann who is played by Micha Barton (1941) & Shirley MacLaine (1991). One of them (Teddy) wins her heart & marries her just before being stationed at an airbase in Belfast. His wedding ring has their names inscribed on the inside & this is the key to the whole story. Worried that he may be killed he asks his mate Chuck to look after her if anything happens. Teddy is killed when the plane crashes into a mountain & eventually Chuck keeps his promise & marries Ethel Ann. The movie starts with Chucks funeral in 1991 & Ethel Ann outside having a fag while their daughter is inside making a speech about how much her parents loved each other but knowing they hardly ever spoke. Christopher Plummer plays the third mate in 1991 who should have been on the plane but hurt his ankle in a row with Teddy so couldn't fly. While this is going on we cross to Northen Ireland during the troubles where two people are digging in the mountains looking for parts of a plane which crashed there 50 years previously. Michael the elder of the two was actually there when the crash happened & was asked by a dying Teddy to take the ring & give it back to Ethel Ann & to give her a message. But the plane exploded & he never actually got his hands on it. He spends the next half century on & off looking for it but Jimmy a 16 year old lad excellently played by Martin McCann finds it & on making some enquiries to the US embassy tracks Ethel Ann down & gets her phone number. Jimmy adds a bit of much needed humour to the story & in a movie where most of the acting was a bit dull he shines like a beacon. Brenda Fricker comes in late on as Jimmy's grandma & as the movie progresses we see the pieces of the jigsaw slowly fall into place. The IRA also have an interest on black mountain as their bombing campaign was very active. Ethel Ann needs some closure on Teddy as his body was never found so she never really moved on even though she remarried her heart still belonged to her first love. Although the outcome of the story was cast in stone there was some nice touches along the way. If you are patient with this you will enjoy it & might even have a little cry at the end!

Review published on the 05 May 2008 02:39