Imdb Ranking 7.3
The movie opens with British soldier Jody (Forrest Whitaker) at at a carnival with a girl he just met, Jude (Miranda Richardson. Fergus, an IRA man, and some of his friends grab Jody and put a ski mask over his head, and off they go. Jody is a hostage that the IRA hopes to exchange for one of their members who is being held. If they don't release him in three days Jody will be shot.
Fergus and Jody form an unexpected friendship. Jody shows Fergus a picture of his girlfriend. They talk about cricket and hurling. They spend a lot of time alone and they get closer and closer. Jody asks Fergus to find his girlfriend Dil in London, if anything happens to him, and make sure she is all right and to tell her that Jody was thinking of her. Jody gives Fergus a picture. He also gives Fergus directions on how to find her.
The other IRA people are beginning to worry about Fergus - he is getting too close to the prisoner. When it time comes it is Fergus' job to kill Jody. Jody runs and Fergus chases him. Will he be able to shoot him? We don't find out. Army trucks run over and kill the fleeing Jody.
The army attacks the IRA hide-out and kills everyone, but Fergus who was out in the woods, gets away. Fergus gets on a ship and gets to London where he gets a job as a laborer under the name Jimmy. He eventually goes and looks up Dil, who is a hairdresser and she cuts his hair. Later he sees her at a bar.
Jimmy goes to a club and Dil comes out singing "The Crying Game." The bartender was going to tell him something about her, but he doesn't get a chance. When a guy gives Dil a hard time Jimmy protects her. Soon they are going out.
Jimmy goes up to Dil's apartment and sees a picture of Jody. She tells Jimmy that Jody is dead, he was killed in Ireland. They get more and more involved in the romance. Then we get a surprise which I'm not going to talk about and then we get another surprise - Jude shows up and she is not a happy camper. She thinks Jimmy may have been at fault for the disaster in Ireland. Jude and one of her IRA pals, Peter, take Jimmy (Fergus) for a ride.
Peter and Jude set Fergus up with a new job, a hit, that is almost a suicide mission. It is an offer they won't let him refuse. If he doesn't do the job he puts Dil in jeopardy. An English judge is the target.
When Dil ties Jimmy up he can't do the job and Peter does it and he is killed. When Jude comes with gun drawn to take care of Frrgus (Jimmy), Dil shoots and kills her.
It won an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen Neil Jordan, and was nominated for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Picture and I forgot how really good this movie was. It was really good. Great acting, writing and directing.
If you've never seen it hold on for the ride.
