Cast: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Gerard McSorley, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Declan Duddy
Director: Paul Greengrass
Producers: Arthur Lappin, Mark Redhead
Screenplay: Paul Greengrass, based on the book "Eyewitness Bloody Sunday" by Don Mullan
Cinematography: Ivan Strasburg
Music: Dominic Muldoon
U.S. Distributor: Paramount Classics
On three occasions during the last two centuries, days have been referred to as "Bloody Sunday". The first, on November 13, 1887, happened in London when police violently disrupted a meeting of socialists in Trafalgar Square. The second, on January 22, 1905 in St. Petersburg, Russia, occurred when a group of peaceful demonstrators was massacred (precipitating the 1905 Russian Revolution). The third, on January 30, 1972 in North Ireland's city of Derry, resulted in 13 deaths and 14 injuries when the British military opened fire on a Civil Rights march. The events of that third Bloody Sunday mark the territory explored by Paul Greengrass' motion picture.
It is said that every story has two sides, and the 1972 Bloody Sunday is no exception. The two sides – the citizens of Derry and the British army – have differing perspectives on what happened that afternoon. According to the latter, the military did not initiate the shooting, but returned fire after IRA members began firing at them. According to the former, the British attacked without provocation, and the resulting casualties were innocents caught in the line of fire. Official inquiries and investigations have failed to provide a clear path of culpability, and, while the evidence weighs slightly in favor of the version offered by the residents of Derry, there is no way to make a clear-cut determination of what is "the truth."
For Bloody Sunday, Greengrass has elected to tell the story using the citizens' version of events. Aside from this representing his personal conviction of what transpired, it is the more dramatically compelling interpretation. Greengrass' approach attempts a sort of balance – he builds to the confrontation by presenting the view from both sides. In addition to spending time with key individuals participating in the Civil Rights march, he introduces the audience to a number of British officers, including one conflicted, sympathetic man, Brigadier Maclellan (Nicholas Farrell), who tries unsuccessfully to curb the excesses of his men.
Bloody Sunday takes us through the day of January 30, 1972, beginning in the wee hours of the morning and extending until after sunset. The film's focus is on several characters. Ivan Cooper (character actor James Nesbitt, whose performance is riveting), a local Member of Parliament, is the organizer of the Civil Rights March. Like Martin Luther King, he believes that peaceful assembly is the route through which change can be affected. "We will march peacefully," he declares, "Until Unionist rule is put in place." Another goal is to keep the IRA out of the march, since violence begets violence. However, many of the younger marchers, such as Gerry Donaghy (Declan Duddy), are prone to rioting, needing only a spark to set them off. The British are ready for the day's activities – which are illegal under current rules that prohibit marching. Major General Ford (Tim Pigott-Smith) has decided to take a hard line, commanding Maclellan to arrest hundred of "hooligans". Troops are deployed, ready to move into position if things get out of hand. And, although the march starts out calmly enough, with between 5000 and 20,000 citizens participating, it doesn't take long before things go badly wrong. And, in the midst of the chaos, a group of overzealous soldiers starts shooting using live ammunition, and the result is bloody carnage.
Greengrass has elected to photograph Bloody Sunday in a pseudo-documentary fashion, giving an in-your-face, you-are-there impression. The film is presented through the lens of a hand-held camera with the color so desaturated that many scenes appear to be almost black-and-white. The style is effective in doing what it intends to do – bring the viewer into the chaos of the moment and provide a vivid impression of the horror of what's transpiring. The result isn't melodrama, but a punch-in-the-gut shock tactic. The sense of inevitable tragedy is inescapable – in nearly every scene building up to the first casualty, there's the feeling of watching dry, brittle tinder being stacked up, just waiting for the match to be thrown. There are times during Bloody Sunday when it's easy to forget that this is a re-creation, not footage from the actual event. This is especially true when the camera singles out James Nesbitt's horrified, disbelieving face in the wake of the violence.
Bloody Sunday won an audience award at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival, which is a tribute to the impact it has upon viewers. Although Greengrass brings his own perspective of the day's events to this film, he avoids the pitfalls of sermonizing, lionizing the dead, and demonizing the British. The result is a grim, startling motion picture.
© 2002 James Berardinelli