Effective use of documentary style (spoilers0

Rating: 6/10 (1 September 2003)

One of the few films I've seen where the documentary format seems, for the most part, to convince you that you are watching a documentary, and not a film. This may be more effective for US audiences, as I recognized none of the actors, but nonetheless the acting, sets, etc are so naturalistic that you soon find yourself sucked into this world. I'm sure a low budget necessitated some of this -- some shots are so dominated by close-ups you get the feeling that if the camera pulled back just a little more you'd see modern day Ireland in the background. The filmmakers turn this to their advantage, and I think this film probably looks much better than its budget would have led someone to believe it could have.
My only problem is a lack of details in some areas that would leave people unfamiliar with the events of Bloody Sunday confused. I admit, I knew very little about what happened beyond the fact that deaths occured and it set off much of the IRA activity of the 70s and beyond. I can't understand why a government would be so adamant about not allowing a parade to occur, even to the extent they'd send in military troops. What policies led to this kind of outrageous behavior? And on the other side of the coin, many accusations are thrown against the British troops by the end. While I'm inclined to believe these facts are true, I'm still curious as to how the conclusions were reached. Soldiers are shown planting evidence, murdering civilians. I'd like to know when these facts came to light. At the end, we learn that the official inquiry found the military was in the right, but we don't learn how the opposing view spread.