Michael Collins is a political thriller directed by Neil Jordan which centers around the short and dramatic life of the Irish patriot who died at the age of 31.
In 1916, the English put down an armed rebellion by the Irish. Michael Collins (Liam Neeson) realizes that the only way to effectively fight their enemy is through guerrilla warfare. With the help of a detective informant (Stephen Rea), Collins is able to have his Irish Volunteers on bicycles assassinate every member of an elite English secret service squad.
However, once a truce is established, the crafty and manipulative leader of the Irish Nationalists, Eamon De Valera (Alan Rickman), sends Collins to England to negotiate an agreement. When he returns with a treaty that establishes an Irish Free State but partitions the country, De Valera brands him a traitor and sets off the sparks of a civil war. Meanwhile, Collins' love affair with Kitty Kiernan (Julia Roberts) severs his relationship with his best friend, Harry Boland (Aidan Quinn), who joins De Valera.
From start to finish, this political thriller hurtles along with a remarkable mix of action sequences and intimate scenes which convey the changes taking place in Michael Collins. The film makes it clear that it is far easier to be a terrorist than to be an emissary of compromise. Collins was both and, in the end, his struggle to achieve peace comes across as the ultimate act of heroism.