Down Came a Blackbird

Down Came a Blackbird is a 1995 American made for TV drama film directed by Jonathan Sanger and starring Raul Julia, Laura Dern and Vanessa Redgrave. It was the final film appearance of Julia, filmed in October 1994. Julia died two weeks after production finished and a year before its release.[1][2][3]

For the Lila McCann song, see Down Came a Blackbird (song).
Down Came a Blackbird
Promotional poster
GenreDrama
Written byKevin Droney
Directed byJonathan Sanger
StarringRaul Julia
Music byRoger Mason
Graeme Revell
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producersThom Colwell
Laura Dern
Jana Sue Memel
Kevin Droney (co-executive producer)
ProducersPatrick Whitley
Hillary Anne Ripps (associate producer)
Joy Ryan (associate producer)
Production locationToronto
CinematographyKees Van Oostrum
EditorToni Morgan
Running time113 minutes
Production companiesAll Media Inc.
Chanticleer Films
Showtime Networks
DistributorRepublic Pictures
Viacom
Release
Picture formatColor
Audio formatUltra Stereo
Original release
  • October 22, 1995 (1995-10-22)

Plot summary

Tomás Ramírez (Raul Julia) is a professor who joins a clinic run by Anna Lenke (Vanessa Redgrave), a Holocaust survivor, psychologist and the clinic's proprietor, whose patients are also recovering Holocaust and torture victims. Among them is Helen McNulty (Laura Dern), a journalist tortured by the death squads of an unidentified Central American country controlled by a dictatorship. In time she grows close to Ramírez, but suspicions are aroused when three men attempt to detain him while he and McNulty are on a date. McNulty is able to photograph one of the assailants and sends the picture to a colleague for possible identification.

During one of the Scotch-fueled late night conversations between McNulty and Ramírez, he talks about a childhood friend who was an officer in the Army of his home country. Ramírez portrays his friend as a man who followed orders without questioning the morality of them, preferring to go along with his superiors in order to protect his family.

Eventually McNulty's colleague contacts the person in the picture and arranges a meeting where the man and his two associates identify themselves as police from Ramirez's home country. They inform McNulty that Ramírez is a fugitive and wanted for torture. Back at group therapy session in the clinic, McNulty violently confronts Ramírez with this revelation, where he confesses that the childhood friend he spoke of was really himself. When asked why he came to the clinic, Ramírez stated that he wanted "to feel human again." Dr. Lenke and the patients escort Ramírez out of the clinic, where the police take him into custody.

References
  1. Cruz et al., p. 85
  2. Cruz et al., p. 86
  3. Variety, Down Came a Blackbird by Tony Scott


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