Bloody Sunday (2002)

Certainly, anything dealing with "The Troubles" of Northern Ireland will quickly create a great divide between opposing viewpoints, and obviously 'Bloody Sunday' is no exception. For the record, I am no fan of the IRA. On the other hand I am no fan of sending an attacking force into a civil disturbance as police support. History is replete with evidence that this is simply a bad idea and will likely lead to an atrocity. For this I heap far more blame at the feet of British politicians who move their army around like chess pieces rather than at the feet of the army itself. And I believe Paul Greengrass handles this as such. Brigadier Maclellan is portrayed as a thoroughly professional soldier who is very conscientious about handling the march with minimal force yet finds this insurmountable upon the arrival of Major General Ford, who seems determined to have his Paras show those pesky Republicans who's boss. The Paras themselves are an elite attacking unit. They are trained to jump from planes and kill with maximum effect, not to make sure peace marchers remain peaceful. They don't want to be there any more than the Irish Catholics want them to be there. They're not policemen. They are frustrated and angry, but they are the ones with guns, Queen and country behind them. And when told to move in, they move in with a vengeance. Again, sending an assault force into a civil insurrection is just a bad idea. The inquest that followed may have been incomplete, but with all due respect to the Parachute Regiment in an unenviable situation, it was a massacre regardless of who fired first (and again Paul Greengrass does not take sides here and make it obvious where the first shot came from). There is a huge difference between understanding why something happened and attempting to justify it.

That said, Paul Greengrass's near pathological attention to detail ceases to amaze me after multiple viewings. Having long been a student of the army in Northern Ireland, there is no fault to be found in reference to the soldiers. The flak jackets worn beneath old pattern Para smocks, the mix of maroon berets and para helmets, the wood stocks of the rifles rather than the later plastic. Paul Greengrass apparently hired ex-servicemen who had done tours in Northern Ireland, thus eliminating the need to train the cinematic soldiers to look like real soldiers. They knew the lingo, they knew how to hold their weapons, they knew how to assault. In fact, Simon Mann, the actor who plays the Para commanding officer, was once in the British Special Air Service (SAS) until 1985, and in 2004 was arrested in Zimbabwe on charges of planning a coup in Equatorial Guinea. Many of the scenes are carbon copies of actual incidents seen in archival footage of the actual march. If you are familiar with such footage, you begin to forget you're watching a recreation.

It is a dark and cold film. It is gray and gritty. There is no dramatic score. The camera-work is often shaky. Dialogue is sometimes hard to understand. What is going on is sometimes confusing. And you know what? Life is like that sometimes, and that's what makes this film so powerful and brutally realistic.

Fmovies: Although initially difficult to get into, Bloody Sunday proved worthwhile persevering, as the latter half puts the viewer in the carnage.

The acting, especially James Nesbit is excellent, the recreation of the mood is superb although it was obvious with the constant close ups that there was very little budget to recreate the scenery. The geography was never explained and therefore would leave a viewer without prior knowledge of the area disorientated.

The documentary suffered from not being able to set the scene, a lot had happened in the week prior to the Civil Rights march that put both the participants and the security forces on edge and made the advance more significant. The question of why the Paras were sent to Derry were never fully explored.

Overall it was flawless recreation of events from the point of view taken by the film makers on this particular incident. It is worth noting that this is based on the Irish Governments review of the Widgery report into Bloody Sunday. (NB the Widgery report is mostly considered by nationalists to be a white wash)

A very well done movie. I found it to be a very factual and a very frank account of a terrible time in Irish/British history.

When compared to other books and materials I have read about the account in the past few years, I would have to say it was probably about as accurate as it could be. Of course we don't hear the exact language that was used, especially by British commanders during that time, but I think the movie gives a very likely occurrence of what happened behind closed doors.

Soldiers that were allowed to speak up, many years after the fact, have themselves, shed light onto what happened during that time.

Bloody Sunday fmovies. I've been getting overall information from IMDb for quite a while. Couple of days ago, I accidentally read a list called 'Best Irish movies'. By double checking, or triple checking or even more maybe, because I was too upset to count and I couldn't find this film, which made me terribly upset about till now. For those who haven't see this film, you need to see this film before you want to make any comment on Irish films.

Secondly, Paul Greengrass has set up a new standard of handy cam producing. I believe many late comers learned a lot from him. It's such a brilliant work. All these intense scenarios, conflicts and faces built in this film are not just impressive, I would say it's unforgettable.

Sometimes, people move on because life told them to. But sometimes, people cried and fought because no more they can hold on to.

This film, is definitely & absolutely the BEST Irish film, EVER.

Normally I don't enjoy the handheld documentary style films, as they tend to induce waves of nausea, but Bloody Sunday had me riveted from the word go. That we already know how it's going to end is irrelevant, the pressure building on the day of the march is almost unbearable. Though there's been criticism that the film is slanted towards the republican point of view, I found it balanced, even in the depiction of the soldiers and officers. Everybody certainly looked the part and I went away feeling some sympathy for both sides. Given the close quarters and inflammatory nature of the conflict, it's amazing that bloodbaths like this (soldiers blasting civilians) haven't happened more often in Northern Ireland. It's only now, that retired soldiers have broken ranks and talked about what actually happened, that a film like this can see the light of day.

'Bloody Sunday' is, if nothing else, a very powerful film and,

depending on which side you're on ideologically, can move you to

tears or incite you with rage. Is this film an accurate depiction of

the days events? I personally can't say for certain. Having read

enough contemporary Irish history, including Don Mullan's

"Eyewitness Bloody Sunday", I can say that both sides of the

conflict in Northern Ireland can conduct some very shady

operations and dealings when the moment suits them. A lot of

people have asked "Where was the IRA in this "no-go zone" that

they controlled?" Well according to the book they had been asked

by NICRA (Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association) to remain at

the Creggan Estate. Cooper and the rest of NICRA knew that the

march was banned and they didn't need the Provos to cause

anymore trouble. Also, at that point the Provos were at a nadir of

sorts in terms of numbers and support. There was a lot of hope

placed in the Civil Rights movement, and Bloody Sunday crushed

all chances of it really succeeding. The operation conducted by 1

Para was, I can only hope, a "grab & snatch" operation gone

terribly, terribly wrong.

I can only surmise that out of the some 10,000 people in the

march (not a few hundred as listed in other reviews) some were

either in the IRA if not most definitely IRA sympathisers. Do I

believe most of the marchers that were killed to be innocent

civilians? Yes. Should the "young hooligans" have thrown stones

at the RUC & British Armed Forces? Probably not. Did the IRA

shoot first or did 1 Para? I doubt that with all the confusion going

on, between CS gas & rubber bullets being fired anyone can tell

for certain. I don't think that the Widgery Report was anywhere

near right, or the current Saville Inquiry will get it 100% right either.

But these opinions are coming from a remove of 30 years and a

pretty large ocean.

As for the film itself. i liked it. James Nesbit gave a career defining

performance as far as I'm concerned, going from the height of one

emotion to the absolute depths of another. The Gerry Donaghy

character's accent was a little thick, to say the least. However he

played a good victim with Republican feelings. The jerky handheld

camera, which people either love or hate, worked well in this

movie. It gave a real sense of being "in the moment." Long story

short I'd give this film 3 1/2 stars out of 4.