Martin McGartland (Jim Sturgess) is a 21-year-old street boy who lives in North Ireland. The film is based on his story set in 1980s and released in 2008. He is a spy from the British police to inform various attacks of IRA, which prevents serial attacks . After his cover is blown, his lives and family is threatened. Eventually, he is shot and died in Canada.
Sturgess is solid and Kingsley predictably sneaky, but the atmosphere -- scurries through the Catholic/Protestant border, tense stand-offs, spontaneous riots -- is what's genuinely gripping.
What makes Fifty Dead Men work is the story's sheer moral complexity, which dares viewers to sympathize with anyone onscreen for more than a few minutes at a time.