Originally published in Movies Plus Magazine

Brian Keenan once said that he and John McCarthy would not have become friends other than under very extreme circumstances. These circumstances came about in 1985 when both men were taken captive in Beirut by the Hezbollah militia and held as hostages in their war against the Israeli occupation of the Lebanon.

Keenan was born in Belfast and brought up a republican. He went to the Lebanon in order to escape the strife-ridden city. At the time he was abducted, Keenan was walking to work, he was a lecturer at the American university in Beiruit. McCarthy on the other hand, was an upper-class Englishman, who went to the Lebanon as a journalist to report on Keenan’s sudden disappearance. Ironically, they ended up sharing a cell.

During the years they were in captivity, Keenan and McCarthy were blindfolded, chained, beaten and assaulted. They were moved to different hideaways fifteen times during their captivity, often in car boots or underneath vehicles. Each one of their locations was within the Lebanon, but was kept top secret. The two became great friends and managed to keep each other sane. They used to talk about what they would do when they were freed, and decided that they would take a trip to Chile together. Keenan and McCarthy did take their long promised trip to Chile, almost five years after they were released.

Brian Keenan was released after four and a half years, in August 1990. His release was bargained for by the British and Irish governments, after ceaseless lobbying by his family and the general public. On hearing that he was to be freed, but without McCarthy, Keenan tried to pursuade his captors that they should be freed together, but to no avail. Keenan, not long after he was freed, wrote a memoir of this experiences; the best-selling An Evil Cradling.

John McCarthy was released in August 1991, after also being held for four and a half years. After Keenan was freed, McCarthy shared a cell with Terry Waite, emessary to the Archbishop of Canterbury, who had flown to the Lebanon to negotiate McCarthy and Keenan’s freedom. When McCarthy was freed, he too wrote a memoir, Some Other Rainbow. This too became an international best-seller.

The film Blind Flight came about after Keenan met with director John Furse with a view to developing a docu-drama about his experiences. Furse suggested making it into a feature film. By the time McCarthy was released from captivity in 1991, Keenan and Furse were on the second draft of the script. McCarthy was brought in as a consultant for the third draft, but by this time, most of the work was done. With McCarthy’s presence, it was, however, decided that this was not just Brian Keenan’s story, as he says: “It was about two men and needed two voices. John’s voice validates my story and vice versa.”

Ian Harte (of Harry Potter fame) plays Brian Keenan in the film, and Linus Roache plays John McCarthy. During filming, both actors fasted in order to take on the appearance of spending time in captivity. They also had Keenan and McCarthy on hand to help them with their portrayals.

Blind Flight tells the story of the friendship that developed between Keenan and McCarthy. A friendship that transcended all that politically and culturally divided them.