Directed by:
Paul GreengrassScreenplay:
Paul GreengrassCinematography:
Ivan StrasburgComposer:
Dominic MuldowneyCast:
James Nesbitt, Allan Gildea, Gerard Crossan, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Christopher Villiers, Gerard McSorley, Darren Healy, Eva Birthistle (more)Plots(1)
A dramatization of the Irish civil rights protest march and subsequent massacre by British troops on January 30, 1972. (official distributor synopsis)
Videos (1)
Reviews (9)
Incredibly intense. In the center of the action, Greengrass presents us with a bloody reflection of reality. A drizzly Derry, dynamic camerawork, precise James Nesbitt (a goodie who doesn’t slip into cliché is like gold dust these days) and realistic action. The strange editing style goes against modern approaches, but the fade-outs work perfectly. Political points to the IRA. - Listen, you can’t just leave them lying around her like pieces of meat! - There’s no room for them !
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I can't believe the news today. Oh, I can't close my eyes and make it go away. How long...how long must we sing this song? How long, how long... 'Cause tonight we can be as one tonight... Whoever says Bloody Sunday is one-sided has no eyes. The protesters are too determined and talk to each other several times about attacking before the fatal break happens. Conversely, the soldiers are under pressure, but that doesn't change how incredibly cowardly and insane they will end up being in the next breath. When ever I hear a phrase like "Humanity may not deserve to survive" in a movie again, a scene of screaming, defenseless people being shot in the back will pop into my mind. Is it possible for something like this to happen decades after World War II? And that decades after Bloody Sunday, this theme, in its various permutations, is still so painfully relevant? And the battle's just begun. There's many lost, but tell me who has won....
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Greengrass's account of the memorable Bloody Sunday of 30 January 1972 is remarkable not in the facts he presents to the viewer (after all, this painful blemish on British politics is widely known in Western Europe and many documentaries have been made about it), but in the form in which it is presented. Greengrass's evocative direction, backed by nervous, jittery camerawork, successfully gives the viewer the impression that they are not watching a film reconstruction, but a documentary recording of one of the participants in the demonstration. I would argue that the main idea of the film is the words of the organiser of the demonstration at a press conference on the same day that 27 people stained Irish soil with their blood: “I just want to say this to the British Government... You know what you've just done, don't you? You've destroyed the civil rights movement, and you've given the IRA the biggest victory it will ever have. All over this city tonight, young men... boys will be joining the IRA, and you will reap a whirlwind.” 4 1/2 *.
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A film about human rights, which don't simply fall from the sky, even in the oldest European democracy. Practically everything - the performances, expressive techniques, and editing - is subordinated to a documentary approach, as if we were watching archival television footage of a demonstration. The shaky camera moves from place to place, creating the impression of a war reporter's work. This is an example of a politically engaged film, based on a true event. Overall impression: 85%.
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An impressively crafted “documentary”, extremely raw and sparingly shot. It’s not wonder that after this, they watned Paul Greengrass for Bourne, where unlike Bloody Sunday he had an attractive movie cover of a fictional hero, so it was fun, because this film, from a cinema point of view, is not fun, it's excruciatingly long and extremely volatile. As a probe into history, it is impressive, and as far as its narrative value is concerned, there is nothing to complain about. But to make it into a nearly two-hour film, with a cameraman bouncing around the set most of the time with a handheld camera, that's a living hell.
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Gallery (16)
Photo © 2002 Paramount Pictures Classics
![Bloody Sunday - Making of](http://image.pmgstatic.com/cache/resized/w663/files/images/film/photos/159/950/159950219_e66f74.jpg)
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