The Crying Game

The Crying Game is a 1992 crime thriller film written and directed by Neil Jordan, produced by Stephen Woolley and Nik Powell, and starring Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Jaye Davidson, Adrian Dunbar, Ralph Brown, and Forest Whitaker. The film explores themes of race, sexuality, and identity. The Crying Game follows the fictional character of Fergus (Rea), a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). He develops a brief but meaningful friendship with a black British soldier, Jody (Whitaker), who has been taken captive by the IRA. Jody asks Fergus to look after his girlfriend, Dil (Davidson), in the event of his demise. After Jody's death (for which Fergus feels responsible), Fergus flees the IRA and finds Dil, with whom he develops a romantic relationship. When Fergus's IRA past catches up with him, a chain of events comes to a deadly conclusion when Dil shoots and kills another IRA member. Fergus takes the fall for the killing and ends up in prison. A critical and commercial success, The Crying Game won a BAFTA Award for Outstanding British Film as well as an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. The film also received Oscar nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for Rea, Best Supporting Actor for Davidson, and Best Film Editing. In 1999, the British Film Institute named it the 26th-greatest British film of all time. The film is notable for a plot twist in which a character is revealed to be transgender.