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The Devil's Own: (James Horner) There were several very
compelling films made in the early to mid-1990's that dealt with the issue
of Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland with convincing realism.
From
In the Name of the Father to
Michael Collins, the topic
had received outstanding treatment, and even
Patriot Games, a film
that would share some similarities in crew with
The Devil's Own, held
its own territory. By 1997, famed director Alan J. Pakula was ready to
tackle the subject matter, and he managed to frustrate the two lead actors
in the film by starting the shooting of the project before the screenplay
was even finished. That, along with rumours of general distaste between
Harrison Ford and Brad Pitt, painted
The Devil's Own in a negative
critical and popular light. Not working in its favor was the final
screenplay, which failed to establish who was worthy of salvation and who
wasn't. With the Irish themes in Hollywood beginning to lose their appeal,
the filmmakers stuck to their guns in their choice for composer. While
Pakula had worked with other top composers in the past, the hiring of James
Horner seemed at the time --and still is today-- to be an obvious attempt to
take advantage of Horner's own obsession with Irish music in the 1990's. So
thorough was his adaptation of Irish influences into so many of his scores
that he managed to somehow get away with substituting it in place of true
Scottish music for
Braveheart. Horner's own vindication of his
loyalty to the genre finally paid off with
Titanic later in 1997, and
as a result,
The Devil's Own was immediately obscured and got
completely lost in the mix. The film certainly calls for more Irish spirit
than others that Horner has conjured it for; essentially a tale of revenge,
the film is set against the backdrop of arms smuggling for the Irish
Republican Army. While the film presents several moral dilemmas (especially
for Ford's straight-laced character), Horner remains respectfully upbeat in
the score, with few action sequences and mostly contemplation at heart. It
is perhaps partially due to Horner's substantially positive sequences of
rhythms in the major key that audiences were perhaps confused about whether
or not to like Pitt's criminal character.
It would seem that Horner's attempt in
The Devil's
Own is to create a score with the same restraint and respect for
ethnicity as
Thunderheart (a success in minimalism for the composer),
but on a larger canvas. Indeed,
The Devil's Own is backed by a full
orchestral ensemble, but Horner relies on the power of specialty instruments
to once again provide all the flavor. In what could be best described as
Horner's best imitation of Riverdance music, he inserts an ambitious
percussion section into the mix, as well several of the vocal and synthetic
keyboarding techniques to be heard in
Titanic. The shakuhachi flute,
of course, makes a token blast or two. Drum rhythms previewed in the main
titles are expanded in "The Mortal Blow" to emotional levels of volume heard
in
Legends of the Fall and
Braveheart, although this cue and a
few others, seem content to slowly fade with the monotonous rhythms of the
drums. The magical element in the score is the lyrical title theme ("There
Are Flowers Growing Upon the Hill") performed in Gaelic by Sara Clancy in
the opening and closing cues, with faint references throughout. The Uillean
pipes, in their now typical duets with Horner's broad strokes of strings, do
become tiresome. The wordless performances by female voice in certain tender
underscore cues, often in tandem with solo flute, are a highlight.
Impressive, too, are the jig-like explosions of positive energy that extend
from wild acoustic guitars and an extended, tapping percussion base in "The
Pool Hall." Straying too far from the score is the performance of "God Be
With You" by Dolores O'Riordan of the Cranberries, with the song ruined by a
heavily droning bass effect. The score as a whole, however, has an
introspective attitude and will either lull you asleep with its extended
moments of reflection or irritate every fiber of your body with the
continuation of Horner's blatant overuse of Irish influences in his scores
at the time. The irony is that the influence is both appropriate and
adequate for
The Devil's Own, and in its own right, the score
succeeds. But, to be absolutely sure, unless you are a sucker for Horner's
Irish works, the score will either bore you with its excessive length (a
shorter album would have sufficed easily) or cause you to curse the composer
once again.
***
| Bias Check: | For James Horner reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating
is 3.12 (in 89 reviews)
and the average viewer rating is 3.33
(in 158,746 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.
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