Gripping

Rating: Null/10 (24 October 2004)

Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday is an exiting new film that deserves much attention for its full-throttle evocation of the milieu of 'Bloody Sunday', in which Irish citizens in a peaceful protest for independence from Britain were killed by British troops. The film doesn't raise any controversial questions-it is a simple criticism of the way the troops acted-but I was fully immersed by Greengrass's stunning, semi-documentary style and James Nesbitt's passionate and nuanced performance as the leader of the protest. Any director who works with Nesbitt in the future is striking gold; few actors can have subtlety as well as power-that is something only the greats are blessed with. Editor Clare Douglas makes a major mistake: the constant scenes in the British troops headquarters are unnecessary and interfere with the films gripping pace. But the jump cuts are done well and the no-nonsense fade-out/fade-in style gets us right to the meat of the picture.
Paul Greengrass is a muscular filmmaker with a highly personal style but I am worried that he may be on the verge of becoming a hype artist. The next film he got under his belt after this one was the awfully indulgent The Bourne Supremacy. The fact that he has made several films (some for TV) that criticize the British government makes me think he has convictions as a filmmaker; he isn't a style-crazy fool. I just hope that he makes the right choicesÂ… Footnote: Bloody Sunday has been criticized as being an anti-British film; this is almost as absurd as saying that The Murder of Emmett Till is an anti-white film or that Schindler's List is an anti-German film. I just hope that the anti-British fools who keep running their mouths off don't continue to be thought as being in cahoots with Paul Greengrass.