"You've got to think of him the way he was. The way he cycled round Dublin in his pin-striped suit with £10,000 pounds on his head. "Why hide, Joe" he'd say "when that's what they'd expect?". But he never did what anyone expected. He got the British out of here and no one expected that. Some people are what the times demand, and life without them seems impossible. But he's dead. And life is possible. He made it possible."

"That's why he died. He knew the risk he was taking when he went down there, but he thought them worth taking. He took them for us, for every gobshite in this country, no matter what side they were on."

"Stephen Rea - Ned Broy"

"Michael Collins was 31 when he died. Half a million people attended his funeral in Dublin. All parties to the conflict, both British and Irish, were temporarily united in grief. In his brief lifetime, he had fought the British Empire to a stalemate, negotiated the first Treaty of Independence for Ireland and overseen its transition to democracy. He died, paradoxically, in an attempt to finally remove the gun from Irish politics."

"At the turn of the century, Britain was the foremost world power and the British Empire stretched over two-thirds of the globe. Despite the extent of its power, its most troublesome colony had always been the one closest to it, Ireland. For over seven hundred years, Britain's rule over Ireland had been resisted by attempts at revolution and rebellion, all of which ended in failure. Then, in 1916, a rebellion began, to be followed by a guerilla war that would change the nature of that rule forever. The mastermind behind that war was Michael Collins. His life and death defined the period, in its triumph, terror and tragedy. This is his story."

"[Trying to convince the Dáil to accept the Anglo-Irish Treaty] I would plead with every person here. Make me a scapegoat if you will, call me a traitor if you will, but please, let's save the country. The alternative to this treaty is a war which nobody in this gathering can even contemplate. If the price of freedom, the price of peace is the blackening of my name, I will gladly pay it."

"Michael Gempart as Man at Kinderstrasse"

"Hana Maria Pravda as Babysitter"

"Wolfgang Heger as Bus Conductor, Kinderstrasse"

"Lutz Weillich as Train Station Guard"

"Lorelei King as Leland's New Secretary"

"Wolfgang Müller as Bus Conductor"

"Hans Martin Steir as Truck Driver"

"Markus Kisslin as Swiss Border Guard"

"Anna Tzelniker as Cleaning Woman"

"Andrzej Borkowski as German Refugee"

"Suzanne Roquette as Woman Dinner Guest at Drescher's"

"Janis Martin as Opera Singer"

"Tusse Silberg as Woman Dinner Guest at Drescher's"

"Simon De Deney as S.S. Man"

"Clement von Frankenstein as BBC Interviewer"

"John Gielgud as Sunflower"

"Michael Douglas as Ed Leland"

"Melanie Griffith as Linda Voss"

"Liam Neeson as Franz-Otto Dietrich"

"Joely Richardson as Margarete von Eberstein"

"Thomas Kretschmann as Man at Zurich Station"

"Klaus Münster as Cab Driver"

"Jay Benedict as Wisecracker in War Room"

"Markus Napier as S.S. Officer"

"Nigel Whitmey as 1st G.I. in Canteen"

"Rob Freeman as 2nd G.I. in Canteen"

"Constanze Engelbrecht as Stafson Von Neest"

"Lisa Orgolini as Girl in Canteen"

"Deirdre Harrison as USO Singer"

"Wolf Kahler as Border Commandant"

"Matheiu Carrière as Von Haefler"

"Wolfe Morris as Male Translator"

"Dana Gladstone as Street Agitator"

"William Hope as Kernohan"

"Ludwig Haas as Hitler"

"Lorrine Vozoff as Personnel Director"

"Hansi Jochmann as Hedda Drescher"

"Peter Flechtner as S.S. Officer at Fish Market"

"Ronald Nitschke as Horst Drescher"

"Alexander Hauff as S.S. Officer at Fish Market"

"Sheila Allen as Olga Leiner"

"Stanley Beard as Linda's Father"