Alan Rickman's Performance

Julia Roberts and Alan Rickman have been criticized for their Irish accents in this movie. Although Roberts does have an awful accent, Rickman's accent was not meant to be Irish in the first place. Anyone with a basic knowledge of this era in Irish history would know that Rickman's character, Eamon de Valera, was an American citizen, born in the U.S. to an Irish mother and a Cuban father. That is the reason that he was not executed when captured after the battle in the post office (the Easter Rising). Great Britain was attempting to get the U.S. to join the Allies in WWI and executing American citizens would not help their cause. Therefore Rickman's performance should not be tarnished with the slander of the ignorant moviegoer.