Thank God Hollywood Didn't Get Hold of This...

Rating: 8/10 (15 February 2003)

My God, what a movie. I'm staggered by this film. I'm not familiar with any of these actors, but every single one of them should receive some kind of award or nomination. This WASN'T a documentary? I'll be perfectly honest, and this is how powerfully dynamic every performance was, if there were no opening credits, listing actors and writers, I would have believed I was watching a documentary. That's what I'm talking about when I say this entire ensemble deserves special recognition. If even one person looked out of place or out of character, the piece would have fallen. But this...the settings, the costumes, the hair, the grainy element of the picture itself...this is absolutely, magnificently brilliant. Paul Greengrass - how did you DO this? How could you organize the chaos, synchronize the sounds, phones ringing, crowds swirling, eight conversations going on at once, bullets flying, this is absolute genius.
In the hands of Hollywood, this would have been an absolute farce. Jennifer Lopez and her embarrassing Irish accent would have fallen in love with Dermot Mulrooney and his embarrassing Irish accent, they would have realized that love was more important than any old conflict between Catholics and Protestants, and they would have daringly slipped through the barbed wire and lived happily ever after in Galway.
This film presents real life. Well, I mean, it really happened. But so did "Enemy at the Gates", and look what Hollywood did to that. See this film. It's amazing. It's brilliant. It's genius. I can't say enough about everyone involved in this production.