History Film / MichaelCollins

* LaResistance: Until the Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed, Collins is always a member or leader of these.

* LaResistance: The IRA fighting against the British Empire for the freedom of Ireland.

* RefugeInAudacity: One of the most wanted men in Ireland doesn't even bother with disguises while blithely cycling around Dublin. TruthInTelevision.
** This is because Collins went to great pains to ensure that his face was never photographed, hence the British literally had no idea who they were looking of. He finally revealed himself at the infamous treaty negotiations.

* GreatEscape: A minor one based on RealLife allowing De Valera to escape by using a wax mold of the prison key from Lincoln Gaol in London (now HMP Lincoln).

** This is because Collins went to great pains to ensure that his face was never photographed, hence the English literally had no idea who they were looking of. He finally revealed himself at the infamous treaty negotiations.

** The British authorities and the Black & Tans (predictably enough). While the latters' conduct was by no means admirable, their actions in Croke Park were greatly amped up for the [[RuleOfDrama sake of drama]].[[note]]During the actual shooting, RICSR officers fired on the tribunes with rifles because they mistook ticket sellers for IRA shooters. In the film, the armoured car rolls onto the playing field and machine-guns the assembly when the players decide to carry on the game in spite of the raid.[[/note]] [[WordOfGod Neil Jordan]] himself admitted that ''not'' exaggerating the atrocities would have made the subject matter ''bleaker'' for the audience.

* CombatPragmatist: The IRA. Use of an ImprovisedWeapon? Check. Creeping up and assassinating officials? Check. [[ExternalCombustion Car bombs?]] Check. Collins himself pioneered this "urban guerrilla warfare" which was taken up by movements from Israel to China.

* GreatEscape: A minor one based on RealLife allowing De Valera to escape by using a wax mold of the prison key from Lincoln Gaol in London (now HMP Lincoln).

* {{Badass}}: Michael Collins, starting as a failed bit player in the Easter rising before becoming a Magnificent Bastard {{Western Terrorist|s}} who brings the British authorities in Ireland to their knees. From the British perspective it could also double as FromNobodyToNightmare.

* FiringSquad: What the leaders of the Easter Rising get to face. De Valera doesn't since he was born in America, and the British government can't risk alienating the US as an ally in WorldWarOne.

*** Though in Rickman's defence, De Valera's accent is hard for even many Irish people to imitate.

[[quoteright:351:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michael-collins-DVDcover_1459.jpg]]

* GreatEscapeL: A minor one based on RealLife allowing De Valera to escape by using a wax mold of the prison key from Lincoln Gaol in London (now HMP Lincoln).

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Inevitable, of course. Of particular note is the film's depiction of the Croke Park massacre on Bloody Sunday 1920 (there have been ''several'' Bloody Sundays in Ireland), the death of Harry Boland, and the idea that de Valera was behind the assassination of Collins.

* CombatPragmatist - The IRA. Use of an ImprovisedWeapon? Check. Creeping up and assassinating officials? Check. [[ExternalCombustion Car bombs?]] Check. Collins himself pioneered this "urban guerrilla warfare" which was taken up by movements from Israel to China.
* CompositeCharacter - The film version of Ned Broy is a mix of the ''real life'' Broy (who actually survived the war, becoming chief of the Irish police force), David Neligan (who never got caught), and others.

* ElitesAreMoreGlamorous - "The Squad" in the [=IRA=]. Also known as "The Twelve Apostles."
* FakeOutMakeOut: Collins does this to Kitty at a train station after some British soldiers ask to see her papers ("Can a man not say goodbye to his wife in peace?"). Kitty is rather unimpressed.

* FiringSquad - What the leaders of the Easter Rising get to face. De Valera doesn't since he was born in America, and the British government can't risk alienating the US as an ally in WorldWarOne.
* ForegoneConclusion - The film starts with Joe O'Reilly consoling Kitty over the death of Collins.
* GreyAndGreyMorality - After the British leave war breaks out between Collins' faction and the hard-line republicans. The film sympathises with Collins but his Irish opponents aren't totally demonized either.
* GreatEscape - A minor one based on RealLife allowing De Valera to escape by using a wax mold of the prison key from Lincoln Gaol in London (now HMP Lincoln).
* HistoricalDomainCharacter - Practically everyone (through CompositeCharacter in some cases).
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade - Éamon de Valera.
** In part, this is due to poor communication; many interpret the film as falsely suggesting that de Valera was responsible for the assassination of Michael Collins, which was never the director's intent.
** Even though it showed De Valera being not at all aware of the plan to assassinate Collins-rather, extremely upset by the divide which occurred between them.
* ImprovisedWeapon - Collins' use of a flaming sod of turf and some empty rifles in order to obtain weapons from the RIC.
* InMediasRes - The film begins when Kitty finds out that Michael is killed. It then flashes back six years.
* ItsPronouncedTropay - His name is not Boy, it's ''Broy''.
* LaResistance - Until the Anglo-Irish Treaty is signed, Collins is always a member or leader of these.
* LoveTriangle - Between Michael, his best friend Boland, and Kitty. It happened in RealLife too, and helped to drive them apart.
* MeaningfulFuneral - Collins' actual funeral and the fact that it was attended to by 500,000 people, 1/5th of the population of Ireland.
* MoreDakka - Collins tells his IRA subordinates to account for every bullet they use when engaging [=RIC=] officers. So an aversion. Collins was actually Finance Minister in the underground Sinn Fein government of Ireland at the time, and had been an accountant with the Royal Mail before, giving him a head for those matters.

* NiceHat - At the ceremony to take down the British flag Collins asks the British officer if he (Collins) gets the hat, too.
* {{Oireland}} - Thoroughly [[AvertedTrope averted]].
* OohMeAccentsSlipping - Roberts' accent is infamously bad. The common consensus is that Aidan Quinn's accent is also patchy at best, but you don't notice it because Roberts' is so much worse.

*** Though in Rickman's defence, De Valera's accent is hard for many Irish people to imitate.
* OhCrap - Collins' realization that the duplicate prison key broke.

* RefugeInAudacity - One of the most wanted men in Ireland doesn't even bother with disguises while blithely cycling around Dublin. TruthInTelevision.

** At least one government agent is killed by simply walking up and shooting him ''in broad daylight''.
* ReverseMole - Broy.
* RousingSpeech - Collins stumps for a candidate, turning the crowd to his favor (even when though he says the man they would be voting for is in prison), gets attacked by the police and persuades Broy to switch allegiances.
* StiffUpperLip - A rare villainous example: The intelligence agent in the park who is given a chance to say a prayer before being shot.

* WeaponForIntimidation - In an early scene, the IRA hold up an RIC barracks using a flaming sod of turf and some empty rifles in order to get loaded guns.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Inevitable, of course. Of particular note is the film's depiction of the Croke Park massacre on Bloody Sunday 1920 (there have been ''several'' Bloody Sundays in Ireland), and the death of Harry Boland.

* UsefulNotes/TheIrishRevolution

* UsefulNotes/PaddiesWithPropellerPlanes: This film goes into their origins. After the treaty, the IRA splits into two parts: The pro-treaty army and the anti-treaty provos. Collins was the first Chief Of Staff for the army.

* TheIrishQuestion

* UsefulNotes/TheTroubles

* GreatEscape - A minor one based on RealLife allowing De Valera to escape by using a wax mold of the prison key from Lincoln Goal in London (now HMP Lincoln).

* TheTroubles

A ''huge'' hit in Ireland where the real life Collins is a national hero.

* AFatherToHisMen: Collins, who takes CrazyPrepared measures to keep his men alive during Bloody Sunday and is almost tearful when he realizes that Broy has been arrested and is most likely doomed.
* [=Badass=]: Michael Collins, starting as a failed bit player in the Easter rising before becoming a MagnificentBastard {{Western Terrorist|s}} who brings the British authorities in Ireland to their knees. From the British perspective it could also double as FromNobodyToNightmare.

* BadAss: Michael Collins, starting as a failed bit player in the Easter rising before becoming a MagnificentBastard WesternTerrorist who brings the British authorities in Ireland to their knees. From the British perspective it could also double as FromNobodyToNightmare.

''Michael Collins'' is a 1996 biopic about the eponymous Irish revolutionary. It was directed by Neil Jordan and starred LiamNeeson, Creator/AlanRickman, CharlesDance, and JuliaRoberts.