Michael Collins - Movie Review Example

The British government had ruled the country for over 700 years and the cruelty with which it subjected the rule in the country made them revolt into armed resistance. However, what aggravated the situation more was the killing of a group of Irish rebels who had staged a six-day siege at Dublin’s General Post Office. Among the rebels in the group, only one of them survived the attack, De Valera who was an American citizen of Irish blood. All the other rebels succumbed to shootings in the execution.

When a number of De Valera’s supporters are arrested and imprisoned, one of them, Michael Collins walked out of jail with the belief that a new approach was needed to free Ireland from the British rule. He and several other volunteers organized armed resistance by using a combination of terrorists’ acts of violence and guerrilla warfare. The movie is based at the first and fourth stages of insurgency. The first stage of insurgency is characterized by initial use of terrorism acts in fighting before their increase in numbers to get the capacity to stage a guerrilla fight.

If the rebels succeed with their terrorism, they receive support from other angry men and women who form similar groups and join in the fight. The reaction of the dominant government is disruption of lives and hurting the innocent people. This stage is marked in the movie by the use of a combination of terrorism acts of violence and guerrilla war tactics. The various groups attacked the British military in the regions where it showed signs of weakness. The rebels also used informants, with Collins having a key inside informant who gave them crucial information on the plans of the British military.

Despite the violent war that they faced from the British, the rebels remained focused and fought with undeterred determination to secure their freedom. Stage four of an insurgency is characterized by the departure of foreigners, while the local surrogates give-up power. The guerrilla fighters become superfluous while the leaders of the insurgency become leaders of the government. In the movie, this stage is demonstrated by the announcement of the British government’s willingness to negotiate with the fighters.

This lead to the group led by Collins to consider negotiations and bring the war to end. When the negotiations began, radicals such as Collins loosened their view of the war and rebellion when they realized that the violence was causing numerous deaths to innocent people. Collins himself wanted negations to start while the likes of De Valera felt that negotiations were not the best way to go in the struggle to secure Ireland’s freedom. The agreement was that the final political control would be left in the arms of the British, which was an indication of a crucial journey, according to Collins, in achieving true freedom of the people.

The rivalry between the two rebel leaders caused violence among the pro-and anti-treaty group factions. The movie used a guerrilla type of insurgency, where the rebels used armed rebellion against the British authority instituted in Ireland. The rebels organized themselves into groups of volunteer guerrilla fighters, who staged armed war against the dominating British rule. They opted to attack the weakest points of the British military, thereby weakening its forces the country. With the help