Movie #192 Bloody Sunday *2002*

James Nesbitt - Ivan Cooper
Kathy Kiera Clarke - Frances
Paul Greengrass (Director)

Bloody Sunday is about the events that took place on January 30, 1972 in Northern Ireland.  A day where the Catholic majority marched down their streets in a display of sovereignty in regards to civil rights.   A peaceful marched turned ugly when protesters within the march began throwing rocks at the British Army who had outlawed marches and parades.  The British Army retaliated by firing on the protesters and killing 17.  9 of whom were just teenagers.

I knew very little of Bloody Sunday before watching it.  I knew the U2 song and I knew that the IRA was involved in some way, but that was about it.  This film does an excellent job of maintaining a neutral position.  This isn't an Irish movie, nor is it a Catholic or Protestant movie.  It is an exciting, reflective, challenging movie.  Challenging in that it was shot entirely with hand held cameras that put you right in the middle of the march or the military meetings and even the gun fire. 

This should come as no surprise to anyone who has watched either of the last 2 Borne movies.  Both of those were made by Greengrass.  Both of those movies placed the action right up front and all around you.

One thing that I didn't like about Black Sunday is an editing technique that was used.  In order to get from one point to another the director used a quick fade to black, a small pause, then a fade up.  I thought at first this was a post modern Nouvelle Vague method.  Later I learned that sometimes they would shoot a single take for up to 30 minutes from several different cameras.  My guess is that this technique was born out of necessity.  I found it interesting at first, but it soon began to bother me and take me out of a story that all the other film making was drawing me into. 

I said that the film makers did a great of riding the fence and not taking political or religious sides.  That is until the gun fire takes place.  Perhaps the director tried to stay neutral, but it is hard to do when a military presence has opened fire on unarmed, largely peaceful people marching.  One thing that I think the movie gets right, but I might have drawn more attention to is the rock/brick throwing.  I found it to me more dangerous and threatening than the movie lets on.

The lead performance is fantastic by James Nesbitt.  He really seemed to capture the spirit of Ireland's MLK.  I also wanted to point out a supporting character.  Kathy Kiera Clarke played Frances, she seemed to be Cooper's love interest.  She is only in a couple of scenes, but I thought she had great screen presence.

It blows my mind that in such a civilized country like Ireland that there were people marching and being killed for the right to vote and speak their mind within my lifetime.  Bloody Sunday is a wonderful document of these events made all the more meaningful by the fact that it was made by a British film maker.  I give Bloody Sunday ★★★★.