Baltimore (released as Rose's War in the United States and Germany)[1] is a 2023 thriller film written and directed by Joe Lawlor and Christine Molloy. It is based on the life of Rose Dugdale, a British heiress-turned-IRA member, played by Imogen Poots. The film is an international co-production between Ireland and the United Kingdom.[2]
Baltimore premiered at the 50th Telluride Film Festival on 1 September 2023, and was released in the United Kingdom and Ireland on 22 March 2024.
Wendy Ide of The Observer gave the film four out of five stars, calling it "a pleasingly taut heist movie" and "a fascinating psychological study of fanaticism, with [Imogen] Poots's expressive performance unpeeling the layers beneath [Rose] Dugdale's fervent belief in her cause.[5] Kevin Maher of The Times awarded the movie four stars out of five, praising the film as "an impressionistic and sometimes dreamlike account of someone finding meaning in a hopeless world while remaining blind to its enormous human cost."[6]
Wilson Chapman of IndieWire commended Imogen Poots's performance, writing that "Baltimore ultimately hinges on Poots to do most of the heavy work, and the consistently great actor is magnetic in the role, nervy and vulnerable but with a clear-eyed belief in her own convictions that makes her pop off the screen. If the movie isn't ever quite able to inspire the same devotion from the audience that Rose Dugdale has for her cause, watching a protagonist as compelling as her still makes for a thrilling 90 minutes and change."[7] Rodrigo Perez of The Playlist echoed these sentiments, writing that "Poots is riveting as a revolutionary, and the drama knows how to pitch the escalation of intensity, but Baltimore and its sense of guilt and conscience is too obscure to affect the average viewer."[8]
