23/03
BLOODY SUNDAY
On 30th January 1972, British soldiers shot dead 13 unarmed civilians taking part in a civil rights march in Derry, Northern Ireland. The event, Bloody Sunday, was a major turning point in the history of the modern Irish troubles, catapulting a low intensity conflict into a civil war, driving many young men into the ranks of the IRA and fuelling a 25 year cycle of violence.
This film tells the story of Bloody Sunday in just one day from dawn to dusk. The film follows the march organisers and the police, British soldiers, as well as civilians from both sides of the religious sectarian divide. It focuses in particular on the stories of two young men: Ivan Cooper, an idealistic Civil Rights leader, a Protestant in a Catholic camp, who shares Martin Luther King's dream of peaceful change; and Gerry Donaghy, a 17 year old Catholic rebel, who yearns to settle down and marry his Protestant girlfriend, but who is drawn into violent confrontation with the soldiers.
Director: Paul Greengrass
Principal Cast: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Kathy Kiera Clarke
Running Time: 100 mins / Rated R