# In the Name of the Father (1993 film)
*In the Name of the Father* is a 1993 biographical drama directed by [Jim Sheridan](https://www.edgepedia.org/jim-sheridan), based on the wrongful conviction of [Gerry Conlon](https://www.edgepedia.org/gerry-conlon) and the Guildford Four for the 1974 [Guildford](https://www.edgepedia.org/guildford) pub bombings and on Conlon's memoir *Proved Innocent*.[1](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/14/truth-justice-the-irish-name/4987bc6f-c8e3-44b2-b36c-95b7b3db74e8) It stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Gerry Conlon, Pete Postlethwaite as his father Giuseppe, and Emma Thompson as the lawyer Gareth Peirce.[1](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) An Irish, British, and American production distributed by Universal Pictures, it received seven Academy Award nominations and stands among the most prominent English-language films to confront the domestic legal fallout of the Northern Irish Troubles.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hollywood-plaudits-for-guildford-four-movie-1393094.html) • [4](https://sightlines.media/film/7984/in-the-name-of-the-father-1993)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writers | Jim Sheridan, who also produced; screenplay by Sheridan and Terry George, based on Gerry Conlon's memoir *Proved Innocent*[1](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) |
| Historical case | The Guildford Four, convicted in 1975 for the bombing of two pubs in Guildford; convictions overturned in 1989 after roughly 15 years in prison[1](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/14/truth-justice-the-irish-name/4987bc6f-c8e3-44b2-b36c-95b7b3db74e8) |
| Lead cast | Daniel Day-Lewis (Gerry Conlon), Pete Postlethwaite (Giuseppe Conlon), Emma Thompson (Gareth Peirce)[1](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) |
| Runtime / rating | 133 minutes (Rotten Tomatoes lists 2h 12m); MPAA rating R for language and politically-generated violence[5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/inthenameofthefather/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_name_of_the_father) • [7](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/in-the-name-of-the-father) |
| Critical reception | Metascore 84 ("universal acclaim"); 94% Tomatometer and 95% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_name_of_the_father) |
| Awards | Seven Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Director, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hollywood-plaudits-for-guildford-four-movie-1393094.html) |
| Box office | $24.6 million gross in the United States[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_name_of_the_father) |
## Spoilers
### Plot and subject
Gerry Conlon, a small-time thief from 1970s Belfast, leaves for England after local IRA leaders turn against him. On the night the IRA bombs a pub in Guildford, he is in London with friends, and shortly afterward he is arrested as a prime suspect. Under interrogation he signs a confession, and his father Giuseppe, who travels to London upon hearing of the detention, is himself arrested for conspiracy. Father and son are convicted and imprisoned, and Gerry spends the following years fighting to prove their innocence.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_name_of_the_father) • [2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/14/truth-justice-the-irish-name/4987bc6f-c8e3-44b2-b36c-95b7b3db74e8) • [7](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/in-the-name-of-the-father)
The film's case rests on the real 1974 bombing of two pubs in Guildford, England, which killed five people and injured 64.[9](https://time.com/archive/6724926/cinema-in-the-name-of-the-truth/) • [10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-04-ca-19138-story.html) In 1989 Conlon's conviction was quashed, and it came out that the police had suppressed evidence favoring him, among it a witness who said she had been in Conlon's company when the bombings occurred and an IRA operative's admission of carrying out the bombings.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/14/truth-justice-the-irish-name/4987bc6f-c8e3-44b2-b36c-95b7b3db74e8) The suppression of an alibi statement taken from a witness named Burke, which supporters of Conlon argued the prosecution had failed to disclose, featured prominently in the film and in the later official inquiry into the Guildford and Woolwich convictions.[11](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c290540f0b645ba3c7137/0449.pdf)
## Production
Jim Sheridan directed his second feature after *[My Left Foot](https://www.edgepedia.org/my-left-foot)* (1989), again working with Day-Lewis. The screenplay by Sheridan and Terry George, a Belfast-born journalist and playwright, drew on Conlon's autobiography *Proved Innocent*; [Gabriel Byrne](https://www.edgepedia.org/gabriel-byrne) acquired the rights to Conlon's life story and served as executive producer, with Arthur Lappin as co-producer.[1](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) Trevor Jones composed the score, Peter Biziou was the cinematographer, and Gerry Hambling the editor.[4](https://sightlines.media/film/7984/in-the-name-of-the-father-1993) • [5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/inthenameofthefather/)
The soundtrack mixes Jones's score with contemporary rock and Irish popular music: the title song performed by Bono and Gavin Friday, and [Sinéad O'Connor](https://www.edgepedia.org/sinead-oconnor)'s "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart" over the end credits.[4](https://sightlines.media/film/7984/in-the-name-of-the-father-1993)
## Dramatic license
The film compresses fifteen years of imprisonment and appeal into a two-hour narrative and takes documented liberties with the record. According to a Washington Post review, Sheridan invented the cell-sharing between father and son that drives much of the film's emotional arc; in reality the two spent much of their imprisonment apart. He also condensed the separate trials of the Guildford Four and the Maguire Seven into one proceeding, and combined two real IRA bombing culprits into a single fictional composite played by Don Baker.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/14/truth-justice-the-irish-name/4987bc6f-c8e3-44b2-b36c-95b7b3db74e8) Reviewers have also noted that the courtroom scenes take dramatic license with the facts, which reduces some of the film's authenticity.[5](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/inthenameofthefather/)
British reception reflected the case's lived history. *TIME* observed that the film largely escaped accuracy criticism in the United States because audiences there were unfamiliar with the story, while in Britain, where people had lived with the Guildford Four case for twenty years, reception was considerably stormier.[9](https://time.com/archive/6724926/cinema-in-the-name-of-the-truth/) The film was attacked by British right-wing media as glorifying the IRA and was criticized in [Westminster](https://www.edgepedia.org/westminster) for allegedly vilifying the British police and judiciary.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hollywood-plaudits-for-guildford-four-movie-1393094.html) A special screening for lawmakers at the House of Commons drew mixed reviews, with most commenters criticizing its accuracy; only 5 percent of invitees attended.[10](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-04-ca-19138-story.html)
## Reception and awards
The Hollywood endorsement came in February 1994, when the [Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences](https://www.edgepedia.org/academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences) nominated the film for seven Oscars, including Best Film, Best Actor for Day-Lewis, Best Director for Sheridan, Best Supporting Actor for Postlethwaite, and Best Supporting Actress for Thompson. The nomination news made headlines in Britain, though American attention that season centered on [Steven Spielberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/steven-spielberg)'s *Schindler's List*.[3](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hollywood-plaudits-for-guildford-four-movie-1393094.html) The film went on to seven Academy Award nominations overall, four Golden Globe nominations, and seven nominations from the Awards Circuit Community Awards.[8](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/) It was shortlisted as Ireland's Feature Film Selection for the 1994 [European Film Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/european-film-awards).[1](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/)
Critics praised the performances above all. Variety highlighted the strong sense of time and place and singled out Day-Lewis and Postlethwaite; Roger Ebert called it an angry, detailed account of the miscarriage of justice that showed how prison changed the protagonist and deepened the father-son bond, while noting that the middle prison sections lost some urgency.[12](https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father) The Washington Post judged Postlethwaite's Giuseppe the film's finest performance, calling his portrayal the human center of a story about undeserved shame.[2](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/14/truth-justice-the-irish-name/4987bc6f-c8e3-44b2-b36c-95b7b3db74e8) On aggregated ratings the film scores 8.1 on IMDb, 7.9 on TMDb, 84 on Metacritic, and 94 percent on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer.[13](https://will.watch/movies/1993/in-the-name-of-the-father)
## Place in Sheridan's work and later influence
The film completed the first phase of the Sheridan–Day-Lewis partnership: *My Left Foot* (1989), *In the Name of the Father*, and *The Boxer* (1997), each built on immersive performance and, in the first two, on a father-son family unit.[4](https://sightlines.media/film/7984/in-the-name-of-the-father-1993) Terry George's later *Some Mother's Son* (1996) extended its family-under-the-Troubles structure into another fact-based political drama, and later films such as [Steve McQueen](https://www.edgepedia.org/steve-mcqueen)'s *[Hunger](https://www.edgepedia.org/hunger-2008-film)* (2008) drew on its cell-bound two-hander staging.[4](https://sightlines.media/film/7984/in-the-name-of-the-father-1993) The British Film Institute includes it among notable films about the Troubles.[14](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/87147aca-1354-58dd-b620-af74a93ab4da/in-the-name-of-the-father)
## References
1. [In the Name of the Father, European Film Academy](https://www.europeanfilmawards.eu/efa-movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/)
2. [Truth, Justice the Irish 'Name', The Washington Post (January 13, 1994)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1994/01/14/truth-justice-the-irish-name/4987bc6f-c8e3-44b2-b36c-95b7b3db74e8)
3. [Hollywood plaudits for 'Guildford Four' movie, The Independent (February 10, 1994)](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/hollywood-plaudits-for-guildford-four-movie-1393094.html)
4. [In the Name of the Father (1993), dir. Jim Sheridan — Sightlines](https://sightlines.media/film/7984/in-the-name-of-the-father-1993)
5. [In the Name of the Father, Dennis Schwartz Reviews](https://dennisschwartzreviews.com/inthenameofthefather/)
6. [In the Name of the Father, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_name_of_the_father)
7. [In the Name of the Father, Universal Pictures At Home](https://www.universalpicturesathome.com/movies/in-the-name-of-the-father)
8. [In the Name of the Father Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/in-the-name-of-the-father/)
9. [Cinema: In the Name of the Truth, TIME (March 21, 1994)](https://time.com/archive/6724926/cinema-in-the-name-of-the-truth/)
10. [Brit Lawmakers Take Issue With 'Name of Father', Los Angeles Times (February 4, 1994)](https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1994-02-04-ca-19138-story.html)
11. [Report of the inquiry into the convictions arising out of the bomb attacks in Guildford and Woolwich in 1974, HC 449 (June 30, 1994)](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7c290540f0b645ba3c7137/0449.pdf)
12. [In the Name of the Father review roundup, Fi1m](https://film.one/film/in-the-name-of-the-father)
13. [In the Name of the Father, will.watch](https://will.watch/movies/1993/in-the-name-of-the-father)
14. [In the Name of the Father (1993), British Film Institute](https://www.bfi.org.uk/film/87147aca-1354-58dd-b620-af74a93ab4da/in-the-name-of-the-father)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Drama and biographical films (individual works) › Drama films 1990s › Drama films early 1990s*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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