Easter Uprising and afterward. "But they were also gentle and big-hearted."

Quinn, Irish by way of Offaly, admitted that Boland, especially, was a charmer "who could be quite nasty."

Jordan, in fact, shows Irishmen working for and against a free Ireland, as he depicts Irish and British acts of violence in Michael Collins.

Although, there has been some niggling about historical accuracy, Jordan stands by his film assertion that Collins was a hard-minded idealist, tragically caught up in a cross-fire of an emotional revolution.

"I think he's regarded as the image of what the country could've been," said Jordan, who points out that Collins tended to be liberal, compared to De Valera's conservatism, which subsequently leads to "the censored Catholic state" of modern day Ireland.

Still, Jordan has hope for a peaceful future in a united Ireland. Making a movie about the country's past gave him optimism for its future.

"It made me admire tremendously their nobility and heroism," said Jordan of the freedom fighters. "They were quite innocent in their ideals, really, and what they wanted wasn't that much."


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