Bloody Sunday
Composite Score: 85.93
Starring: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Allan Gildea, Gerard Crossan, Mary Moulds, Declan Duddy, Simon Mann, Johnny O’Donnell, and Kathy Kiera Clarke
Director: Paul Greengrass
Writer: Paul Greengrass
Genres: Drama, History, War
MPAA Rating: R for violence and language
Box Office: $1.76 million worldwide
Why should you watch This Film?
Bloody Sunday is Paul Greengrass’s film about the “Bloody Sunday” shootings in Derry, Northern Ireland, in 1972. The film stars James Nesbitt as Ivan Cooper, Northern Irish politician and organizer of the march that ended in such tragedy. Greengrass uses the film to recreate the events of the day in as frantic a method as possible, keeping the audience fully aware of the stresses, tensions, and implications of the events as the day unfolds. The film garnered critical acclaim at Sundance and Berlin in 2002 and remains a highly acclaimed historic film, praised for the intentionality of its filmmaking and the startling nature with which it’s all presented.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
Speaking from personal experience, if you are someone for whom the treatment of BLM and adjacent protesters in 2020 (and beyond) by police and the media had a major impact, I don’t know that you should immediately rush out to find and watch Bloody Sunday. It is jarringly reminiscent (though mildly more violent) of the events of 2020 in the U.S., and even more recently the protests about Gaza, and even of the treatment of Palestinians by Israel. This film hits so incredibly close to home in the way that it presents unapologetically the ways that the controlling power and their media (Britain) rush to spin occupation, state violence, and uncontrolled military action as necessary, justified, and even good. It’s baffling that this film released 22 years ago about an event that happened 52 years ago, and nothing has actually changed or improved – in fact, it’s probably gotten worse. Now, it’s not just the military that gets away with these types of atrocities, but heavily militarized police forces as well. Now, we don’t even look at an event with masses of innocent casualties at the hands of the government and name it for what it is (granted, the film makes it clear that that wasn’t the case then either). Now, I’m fairly certain that a large number of audiences would’ve sided with or at least sympathized with the British soldiers – pointing out thrown rocks as equivalent to gunfire and arguing that the protesters should have just complied with the government’s wishes and none of it would have happened. I realize that I am again spiraling a bit here, but you get my drift. It’s not an encouraging film because we’ve made no headway since then.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
To credit Paul Greengrass, he has given us a film in Bloody Sunday that is scathingly true to life. The frantic energy with which he cuts the film together, jumping from Cooper’s perspective to that of the British soldiers on the ground to the commanders in their command center to the everyday Irish citizens who participated in the march and became victims of the violence, makes for a tension-filled two hours that never really lets you forget what’s coming or what’s happened. The detachment and self-deception of the British commanders, the callousness of the soldiers on the ground, the desperation and confusion of the protesters, and the idealism and grief of the civil rights leaders all can be felt easily at the fore of each scene. It hits you hard and doesn’t let up as it takes you through the events of the day, and by the time it’s all said and done, you can’t help but feel outrage at the injustice and flippancy with which its events unfolded.
Told with such a gripping style, Bloody Sunday showcases its greatness and Greengrass’s skill as a filmmaker by refusing to let you look away from the atrocities that it seeks to depict, cementing a place beside the Greatest Films of All Time as it does so. The realness of what unfolds on screen and its uncanny resemblance to modern events this many years later can be quite draining, so it’s always good to judge your own mental state before jumping in, but if you do, you’ll be left with a film that I don’t know if you’ll ever be able to fully shake. Currently, this film is not available to stream anywhere, but keep an eye out, as it often comes available on various television channels throughout the year.
