CIVIL RIGHTS FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT

Rating: Null/10 (7 October 2002)

BLOODY SUNDAY (2002) ***1/2 Filmmaker Paul Greengrass expertly adapts Don Mullan's account of the fateful day of January 20, 1972 in Northern Ireland's tranquil rural town of Derry where a peaceful civil rights march led by political activist Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt in an incredibly powerful performance) turned into a horrible account of bloodshed after British troops that were stationed to oversee the protest fired into the unarmed crowd killing 13 innocents. The documentary-like you-are-there mise-en-scene deftly depicts the ensuing violence, anger and ultimately stirring call to arms by the IRA to continue its decades old stand against the empowering UK's vice-like grip.