While he is taking drugs in a park with his friend Paul Hill, alongside homeless Irishman Charlie Burke, an explosion in Guildford occurs, killing four off-duty soldiers plus a civilian as well as injuring many others.

Gerry maintains his innocence, but signs a confession after the police threaten to kill his father, who is later arrested along with other members of the Conlon family, later dubbed the Maguire Seven.

During their time in prison Gerry and Giuseppe are approached by new inmate Joe McAndrew, who informs them that he was the real perpetrator of the bombing and had confessed this to the police.

He was prevented from sleeping by a group of thugs, who would bang on the door every ten minutes with tin cups through the night, then he was interrogated by three different teams of real Special Branch officers for nine hours.

The site's consensus states: "Impassioned and meticulously observed, In the Name of the Father mines rousing drama from a factual miscarriage of justice, aided by scorching performances and director Jim Sheridan's humanist focus.

"[15] In the film Gerry and his father Giuseppe (in the closing credits, the name is misspelled "Guiseppe") share a cell, but this never took place; they were usually kept in separate prisons.

The courtroom scenes featuring Gareth Peirce were also heavily criticised as clearly straying from recorded events and established English legal practices since, as a solicitor and not a barrister, she would not have been able to appear in court at the time.

Investigative journalist David Pallister wrote: "The myriad absurdities in the court scenes, straight out of LA Law, are inexcusable.

[17] The soundtrack of the film includes the song "You Made Me the Thief of Your Heart", performed by Sinéad O'Connor and written by Bono, Gavin Friday, and Maurice Seezer.