Brilliant commentary that is 100% relevant today

Rating: 9/10 (28 March 2007)

This is an exceptional movie, and a deeply political one. Not just for its discussion of Northern Ireland, but the very poignant statements it makes about torture, about the death penalty, and indeed about any system of justice that prioritizes attaining a confession of guilt.
More than a decade since the film came out, all of these issues are highly relevant in, for example, the United States today.
Guantanamo Bay, anyone? As this film makes clear, there is no justification for the torture of political prisoners (or indeed, anyone else for that matter).
The Death Penalty? Had the UK permitted the death penalty for this sort of crime, the Guildford Four would almost certainly have been executed (both the film and the contemporaneous accounts of the case indicate this). There can be no justification for capital punishment, under any circumstances. Guilt is never 100% certain, even when accompanied by a confession.
It's rare that a film makes compelling, timeless political statements, and rarer still to do so in the context of telling a great story. The story of Gerry Conlon, and the rest of the Guildford Four, needs to be told and retold. Especially in times when people are willing to sacrifice human freedoms and fundamental rights in the hopes of attaining a false sense of "security."