Movie Reviews for Bloody Sunday

Bloody Sunday

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Movie Reviews of Bloody Sunday

Movie Review: When Stormont Bans Our Marches
Summary: 3 Stars

"Sunday Bloody Sunday" was a John Lennon song from his "Some Time In New York City" set that introduced me to this sad day. "When Stormont bans out marches," was the chorus that rattled in my head for the early 70s. Then the U2 song came out. Now I'm pleased to see this film.

It's hard to review this film without either reviewing the event itself and the political situation that surrounds it or reviewing the cinema verite style that director Paul Greengrass employs. There is no doubt that "Bloody Sunday" is powerful. I sat watching the credits roll afterwards and listened to the U2 song even after the screen went black. I found this film less effective that the docu-drama "Veronica Guerin." Gerald McSorely played Irish Mafioso John Gilligan in "VG"; and here plays Capt. Supt. Lagan who sits dumbfounded hearing the news, patently ignored by the British officers.

The film is centered around Ivan Cooper played by James Nesbitt. He does an excellent job as a wheeler dealer politician who then becomes dumbfounded at the day's results. Tim Piggott-Smith does a marvelous job as the boneheaded Gen. Robert Ford who goads the British into the confrontation and then crows about it as a tremendous success.

The short abrupt cuts didn't work as well for me. If they had started with longer sequences and progressively been snipped to shorter and shorter shots as we approach the massacre, the film would have had more of a sense of build. As it is, it does convey the sense of confusion with people talking at once, not listening to each other, and then the screen cutting to a completely different setting and sequence, leaving each part dropped but adding to a cumulative effect.

Because this film is about an extremely important event, one that is unfortunately mirrored in too many unjust situations around the world, it does have a universality and resonance. On the other hand, because we don't spend long enough with each character, because we don't come to know the 13 killed or the 14 wounded, there is a facelessness to the proceeding. It would have been more moving for me if like "Veronica Guerin" we become directly involved with the characters and concerned with their outcome. Even so, it's a film that deserves to be seen. Enjoy!

Movie Review: I still remember Warrington
Summary: 3 Stars

It seems that Catholic tragedies are the only events which warrant the attention of filmmakers. The IRA, INLA, Real IRA and Continuity IRA are responsible for bloody monday, tuedsay, wednesday, thursday , friday, bloody Brighton, bloody Enniskillen (11 civilians murdered), bloody Warrington (two little children, ages 12 and 3 murdered), bloody Warrenpoint (18 soldiers), bloody Omagh (29 civilians), bloody Guilford (5 civilians), bloody Birmingham (21 civilians), bloody City (3 civilians including a 15 year old girl),bloody Harrods (five civilians), bloody Claudy (8 civilians)... There isn't enough space for me to list all of them, but the list goes on.
The stastics say it all: In the whole course of the conflict Republican groups have killed far more people (2153) than the security forces (365) and Loyalists (1080) put together. In addition they deliberately target civilians (example: Harrods 1983, Omagh 1998) and have even forced civilians to become suicide bombers for them (Patsy Gillespie, Londonderry 1990).
This film is lacking, not for its portrail of the events of the day which is done quite well, but for what it omits. For example, the very same year (1972) was Bloody Friday (22 IRA bombs murder 9 civilians). No mention is made of any of these other events in the film. Nor, by the way, is there any mention of the fact that the Catholic alienation was due mainly to policies of the Unionist parliament in Stormont and not the British government.
So, in my opinion, see the film, but don't use it as your only source of information about the conflict.

Movie Review: Respectfully dissenting
Summary: 3 Stars

I understand that the producers wanted this mockumentary to be as close to "the real tying" as possible but they might also have kept in mind that the film, as dialogue-rich as it is, loses a great deal for viewers who are not well-versed in Northern Irish dialect. I had to watch it twice all the way through before I really grasped everything required to appreciate it. If this had been made solely for domestic consumption in Ireland the question would not be relevant. However, marketed as it has been for overseas consumption, one must ask at least why there were no subtitles provided.

I also question the motives of the filmmakers in putting together a feature film that "fools" the viewer into thinking it's a documentary. Kudos to the brilliant acting jobs by known and unknown actors alike and laud the choppy camerawork, which was right on the money. But what was the point, really? Why all this effort expended to make a feature that resembles a doc but isn't? And the insertion of Tim Piggot-Smith (of "Jewel in the Crown" infamy) as the hard-ass commander is heavy-handed since this actor is routinely cast as sadistic military types and has probably never played a sympathetic role in his life.

I personally would rather see a balanced documentary of the actual event, so that I can know for certain that what I'm seeing truly happened.

Movie Review: Leaves abit to be desired, but so did/does the "official" investigation.
Summary: 3 Stars

I thought the movie left me sorta just hanging out there and didn't answer my questions. But on the other hand, those same questions aren't answered in the real world even today. All in all, a movie worth seeing.