Atmospheric film helped by strong acting

Rating: 8/10 (21 January 2002)

Paul Greengrass' filmmaking specialises in re-enacting controversial real life events, and there are few more controversial events than the massacre of 13 unarmed civil rights demonstrators on 30th January 1972. The film marks the 30th anniversary.
The screenplay does not, as some have inevitably claimed, act as a propaganda feature for Irish nationalism. It goes some way to showing how the Parachute Regiment were given orders on the ground which went beyond their orders from a confused base, though demonstrating how individual soldiers were responsible for their actions.
The overall atmosphere of confusion on all sides is added to by the cinematography, with handheld cameras used in crowd scenes. The gloomy lighting and drab colours, in a battle-scarred part of Derry, bring the period back to life, as do the mechanical telephones which ring constantly.
At the centre of the film James Nesbitt gives a superb and striking performance as Ivan Cooper, who at all times is trying to avoid the outbreak of violence as the situation slides away from him. Tim Pigott-Smith, as the Parachute Regiment commander, is believably aggressive and ignorant.
It is a slight pity that Ivan Cooper is misrepresented as a Westminster MP (he was actually an MP at Stormont) and as "the MP for this area" (he actually represented the Mid Derry division, while the march took place through the Foyle division which was represented by John Hume).