Product Details

• Actors: Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt
• Directors: Oliver Hirschbiegel
• Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.77:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: MPI HOME VIDEO
• DVD Release Date: April 27, 2010
• Run Time: 89 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B003498SCQ
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,466 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Five Minutes of Heaven" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

From the Oscar®-nominated director of DOWNFALL, the BAFTA-winning screenwriter of OMAGH and star Liam Neeson comes a startling new thriller inspired by true events: In 1975, 17-year-old Irish-Protestant Alistair Little assassinated 19-year-old Catholic Jim Griffin in his Ulster home. The murder was witnessed by Griffin s 11-year-old brother Joe. Thirty years later, Little (Neeson) has been rehabilitated and released from prison, while Joe Griffin (James Nesbitt of BLOODY SUNDAY and JECKYLL) remains traumatized and bitter. But when a television talk show decides to bring them together for a live on-air reconciliation, two men haunted by one moment must come face-to-face with their own worlds of pain, violence and vengeance. Anamaria Marinca of 4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS & 2 DAYS co-stars in this must-see drama that dares to explore both sides of Northern Ireland s troubled past as it comes to terms with its still uncertain future.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

70 of 74 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Truth and Reconciliation, January 19, 2010

By 

Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Five Minutes of Heaven (DVD)

When friend Vika (Anamaria Marinca) asks Joe Griffen (James Nesbitt), the brother of a man killed in 1975 by one Alistair Little (Liam Neeson), if killing Alistair would not be good for him, Joe replies ' Not good for me? My five minutes of heaven!' And so runs the razor sharp dialog and acting and power of this little film from the UK that relates the story of a 1975 event in Northern Ireland when Catholics and Protestants were at war and the young Protestant Alistair Little (Mark David), as a UVF member (Ulster Volunteer Force), gathers his friends and 'kills a Catholic' - but the murder happens in front of the victim's 11-year-old brother Joe Griffen. Flash forward to 2008 when Alistair Little (now Liam Neeson) has served his prison term and is set up by the media to relate the story of the incident and supposedly meet and shake hands on camera with the now mature Joe Griffen. It is a film about youthful involvement in terrorism and the sequelae that haunts or obsesses the victim's family and the perpetrator. The confrontation between Alistair and Joe is a devastating one.

Guy Hibbert wrote this excruciatingly visceral screenplay and Oliver Hirschbiegel directs a first rate cast. Though Liam Neeson is billed as the star, the film belongs to the powerful acting by James Nesbitt as the vengeful Joe Griffen. The cinematography is dark and dank like the atmosphere in both the warring fog of 1975 and the attempt at reconciliation in 2008. There are subtle pieces of thoughtful enhancement, such as the use of the Mozart 'Requiem' in the near hidden score. In all, this is a moving film about truth and reconciliation that deserves the attention of us all, especially in this time of random acts of terrorism and their possible imprint on our minds and on society. Grady Harp, January 10

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One people will watch 30 years from now, January 23, 2010

By 

J. C Clark "eanna" (Overland Park, KS United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Five Minutes of Heaven (DVD)

A perfect movie is a rare thing. No committee can produce perfection; the too many cooks are never so present as during the production of a movie. I've seen a few, but not many. When 1 person does everything, there's one vision to be 1% short. But when tens or hundreds do it, then each contributes his individual failure until we're left wondering, as we do when watching some YouTube clip of kids riding their bikes off a roof, "Wow..what the **** were they thinking?" However, "Five Minutes of Heaven" comes darn close to perfection.

Two men collide, and then 33 years later collide again. Some serious sparks ensue. Who was right? Who lost the most? Who owes what to whom?

If you're reading these reviews, I'd advise you to stop now and get this film. This is fine film making with a pungent theme. Watch it for its powerful and beautiful tale of loss and recovery. Watch it for two great actors giving superlative performances. Watch it recreate a terrifying yet frightfully close world where hell was always around the corner and ever on the TV. And watch it for what it has to say about the problems, the not easily fixed challenges, we face in the world today....

39 of 46 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars powerfully honest and transparent, October 13, 2009

By 

Dafydd Ieuens "Dai" (Wash DC USA) - See all my reviews

One of the best films I have seen on the struggle to reconcile with one's own self as well as one's enemy. There is no cheap forgiveness portrayed here. The acting by Neeson and Nebitt is unbelievably good and the directing is incredible. I couldn't believe that this was a made-for-tv film. Goes to show that on a shoe-string budget, BBC can produce stuff that is far superior to the drivel that comes out the mouth of Hollywood.