Saipan – Film Review
by Frank L.

Directors – Lisa Barros D’Sa & Glenn Leyburn
Writer – Paul Fraser
Stars – Éanna Hardwicke, Steve Coogan, Peter McDonald

In 2002, Ireland managed to reach the final stages of the World Cup, which was to be held in Japan. Before the tournament began, the Football Association of Ireland and the team’s manager, Mick McCarthy (Steve Coogan), decided that the team would acclimatise in Saipan, an island in the Pacific Ocean. The captain of the team, Roy Keane (Eanna Hardwicke), believed that they were there to prepare themselves to win the tournament. He was a man who was quick to highlight what he considered inadequate or incompetent preparations. The choice of Saipan offered Keane a wide variety of complaints, ranging from the inadequacy of the hotel’s food to a substandard football pitch and a lack of equipment. As far as he was concerned, they were not there on a jolly to enjoy themselves, but they were there to prepare themselves to win the World Cup.

Keane, it seems, had little respect for McCarthy when he was a player and even less as the manager of the Irish team. The arrangements in Saipan, or the lack of them, infuriated Keane. His personality was such that he was not going to remain silent. The conflict between Keane and McCarthy was, in the circumstances, almost bound to take place, and how it escalated is the gripping story that is told. The hapless officialdom of the Football Association of Ireland contributes little or nothing to prevent the gathering storm. Their complacency adds to Keane’s frustration.

Coogan has the tricky task of portraying McCarthy, a decent man, lacking in charisma but not in the same league as a football manager as Alex Ferguson, Keane’s manager at Manchester United. Coogan portrays the solid virtues of loyalty as he defends the patent inadequacies of the choice of Saipan and the preparations. McCarthy can only appeal to Keane’s better nature to keep him on side. Keane, however, is not going to be mollified with soft words. Hardwicke’s Keane, seething contempt for the inadequate preparations at first is comparatively restrained, but as the inadequacies mount, Hardwicke portrays the rising anger within Keane. The fact that Keane is captain of the team perhaps controls his rising anger but instead exacerbates his sense of outrage. Hardwicke portrays the rising frustration and the ultimate explosion. Hardwicke is impressive. Coogan correspondingly nails the tricky task of portraying McCarthy’s limitations in the tumultuous events which happened.

The subsequent events cannot have helped Ireland’s chances in the tournament. No doubt this well-acted film will reawaken those debates which divided soccer-loving Ireland more than twenty years ago.  Those debates will now have fresh oxygen, but what Barros D’Sa and Leyburn have created is a film which captivates even for those who are not part of the soccer-loving community, which engages as the very different personalities of McCarthy and Keane are laid bare. For a non-soccer fan, it makes for a most enjoyable film.