Bloody Sunday
"A triumph!" -Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Winner of the Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award, writer-director Paul Greengrass' "magnetic and impassioned" drama is a "staggering re-creation" of the events of Sunday, January 30th, 1972 in the Northern Ireland town of Derry, when a protest march led by civil rights activist Ivan Cooper was fired upon by British troops, killing 13 protesters and wounding 14 more.
Member Reviews
Excellent Film - TheGallopingMajor
This is a first rate re-enactment of a turning point in Northern Ireland's history. The acting is flawless, the documentary style filming gives the film its sense of reality and tension. The actual former British troops used film the film show show behaviour that no actors or stand-ins could possibly have achieved. Highly recommended.Excellent docu-drama ! - kap0n3
"Bloody Sunday" is, in a formal sense, a fascinating exercise in the dissemination of ideology. The structure employed by Greengrass begins by demonstrating the two factions at loggerheads and their preparations for a "peaceful" march through the city of Derry in Northern Ireland. The initial stages of the film represent the British Army and the Catholic marchers in an even light. Then, gradually the ground begins to shift and the culpability for the violence and mayhem that ensues is shifted almost entirely upon the shoulders of the soldiers. And then as one revisits the earlier scenes it is possible to see that this was always on the cards. The majority of the British superiors are stuffy, speaking in clipped arrogant tones about the offensive they are ready to mount – stressing its inevitability despite evidence to the contrary. Meanwhile the IRA is only glimpsed in the background (a few bad eggs?) ready to support any insurgency that should develop. And the rioters are represented as exuberant youths fuelled by passion and idealism – dressed and groomed like modern rock stars (bearing a striking resemblance to "Jet"!). If, in fact, this was Greengrass' intention—to condemn the British while glorifying the rebellion—then it works at a superficial level. Undoubtedly the images of the violent massacre are affecting and deplorable. But, for me, the film represents a more successful condemnation of violent force – regardless of those wielding it. The rioters desire for violence is palpable when they confront the soldiers and merely reflects their enemies blood-lust. That the soldiers are more efficient at killing is the only thing that separates them. The film works as cinema – the performances are excellent and the shaky docu-drama approach is particularly appropriate. And though I would typically agree with the politics of the film, the feeling of manipulation was too strong to truly empathise with the director's point-of-view.Excellent film - Chris1
Nice to see a historic documentary of Ireland not focusing entirely on the IRA. The acting is superb and the director accomplished his mission to assimilate the viewer into the chaos of that day.
Also nice to see some compassion in at least a few of the British characters -- too often these types of films come off as showing the military completely absent of any type of involvement in those that they are attempting to 'tame'.
Compelling viewing. Highly recommended.
Member Reviews
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Excellent Film - TheGallopingMajor
This is a first rate re-enactment of a turning point in Northern Ireland's history. The acting is flawless, the documentary style filming gives the film its sense of reality and tension. The actual former British troops used film the film show show behaviour ...Excellent docu-drama ! - kap0n3
"Bloody Sunday" is, in a formal sense, a fascinating exercise in the dissemination of ideology. The structure employed by Greengrass begins by demonstrating the two factions at loggerheads and their preparations for a "peaceful" march through the city of Derry ...Excellent film - Chris1
Nice to see a historic documentary of Ireland not focusing entirely on the IRA. The acting is superb and the director accomplished his mission to assimilate the viewer into the chaos of that day.
Also nice to see some compassion in at least a few of the ...