Bloody Sunday (2001)
Country: GB/EI
Technical: col 110m
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell
Synopsis:
Derry, Northern Ireland, 1972: the local MP organises a civil rights march at a time of tension resulting from IRA killings of British soldiers; meanwhile a visiting Major General supervises the mobilisation of security forces, which include a company of paras spoiling for a firefight.
Review:
Thirtieth anniversary exposé of the injustice and folly of a classic case of over-reaction, whose only sequel was decoration for the officer involved and an entrenchment of IRA opposition to British occupation. The scales are somewhat weighted against the army, in that the moderate Ivan Cooper is our guide through much of the confusion of that day, and the actual IRA is hardly glimpsed - naturally enough since the implication is that they weren't there shooting! (Brief shots of gunmen do nothing to clear up this question.) But it is hard to justify the action if the scenes of fleeing civilians being shot down are to be trusted, and the tone of the whole is even-handed, with the local Brigadier clearly wincing at the intrusion of his gung-ho superior. Shot from the shoulder throughout, making for excitement and immediacy as well as some unintelligible dialogue.
Country: GB/EI
Technical: col 110m
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell
Synopsis:
Derry, Northern Ireland, 1972: the local MP organises a civil rights march at a time of tension resulting from IRA killings of British soldiers; meanwhile a visiting Major General supervises the mobilisation of security forces, which include a company of paras spoiling for a firefight.
Review:
Thirtieth anniversary exposé of the injustice and folly of a classic case of over-reaction, whose only sequel was decoration for the officer involved and an entrenchment of IRA opposition to British occupation. The scales are somewhat weighted against the army, in that the moderate Ivan Cooper is our guide through much of the confusion of that day, and the actual IRA is hardly glimpsed - naturally enough since the implication is that they weren't there shooting! (Brief shots of gunmen do nothing to clear up this question.) But it is hard to justify the action if the scenes of fleeing civilians being shot down are to be trusted, and the tone of the whole is even-handed, with the local Brigadier clearly wincing at the intrusion of his gung-ho superior. Shot from the shoulder throughout, making for excitement and immediacy as well as some unintelligible dialogue.
Country: GB/EI
Technical: col 110m
Director: Paul Greengrass
Cast: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell
Synopsis:
Derry, Northern Ireland, 1972: the local MP organises a civil rights march at a time of tension resulting from IRA killings of British soldiers; meanwhile a visiting Major General supervises the mobilisation of security forces, which include a company of paras spoiling for a firefight.
Review:
Thirtieth anniversary exposé of the injustice and folly of a classic case of over-reaction, whose only sequel was decoration for the officer involved and an entrenchment of IRA opposition to British occupation. The scales are somewhat weighted against the army, in that the moderate Ivan Cooper is our guide through much of the confusion of that day, and the actual IRA is hardly glimpsed - naturally enough since the implication is that they weren't there shooting! (Brief shots of gunmen do nothing to clear up this question.) But it is hard to justify the action if the scenes of fleeing civilians being shot down are to be trusted, and the tone of the whole is even-handed, with the local Brigadier clearly wincing at the intrusion of his gung-ho superior. Shot from the shoulder throughout, making for excitement and immediacy as well as some unintelligible dialogue.