Fifty Dead Men Walking (15)

THE story of IRA informer Martin McGartland is a gob-smackingly amazing tale that you’d swear the film-makers had made up, if you didn’t know it was rooted in a true story.

Jim Sturgess, last seen at the gambling tables of Las Vegas in 21, confirms his place as one of Britain’s hottest rising film talents, as McGartland – seen in the opening moments having six bullets pumped into him and left for dead in a car.

Flashback to Belfast 1988 when Martin and best mate Sean (Kevin Zegers) make a living selling dodgy goods. Events conspire to bring Martin to the attention of the IRA, who want him to work for them, and a British police officer Fergus (Ben Kingsley), who wants him to inform on the group.

Living a double life is precarious with the British wanting more and more information and the IRA always ready to sniff out traitors to the cause. And he can’t even rely on his identity being protected if the British think they’ll achieve more by shopping him to get at bigger fish in the organisation.

Writer-director Kari Skogland pulls no punches in her depiction of the Northern Ireland troubles as McGartland’s position becomes increasingly dangerous. But his remarkable story puts a fresh spin on a familiar subject.