A powerful gritty drama with excellent acting and cinematography

Rating: 8/10 (8 January 2017)

Reviewed December 2011
I am an admirer of Paul Greengrass movies mainly for the editing and camera work which led me to watch this. An up close account of the tragic events that turned a peaceful Irish 1972 Civil rights march to a deadly massacre which ended with 13 civilians killed and twice injured kick-starting a political blame game.
Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt), the Member of Parliament for the Irish town of Derry leads the charge of a Civil rights march. The British government bans the protest making the march illegal and also involves the military to crush the situation. Like any other riot anywhere else in the world, one thing leads to another involving rowdy hooligans, trigger happy policing and groups with vested interests. The movie divides its focus on a close look from Ivan Cooper's stand point, the British Military view and a couple of families that were affected by this day.
Keeping in mind that it would get offensive for the real victims if there is even a single point in the script that justifies the military action, the writers and the directer tread carefully and mostly plays safe. Paul Greengrass shows his early taste for editing and camera work, but his talent is not on best display here. James Nesbitt does a terrific job as the man edging on emotional crisis with the way the day has turned out, but has to maintain his saneness and composure to concentrate on the operational details. Sometimes gets a bit melodramatic and too emotional, but they must have been apt for the circumstance. Doesn't push it as hard as it could have and gets a little biased on the victims side. It has great moments placed in between mediocre ones.
I wouldn't say it is a great movie, but does enough to use the emotional depth of this true story.