Bloody Sunday
Don Mullan's politically influential book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday (Wolfhound Press, 1997). We see the events of the day through the eyes of Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt), a SDLP / Social Democratic and…
Bloody Sunday
Don Mullan's politically influential book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday (Wolfhound Press, 1997). We see the events of the day through the eyes of Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt), a SDLP / Social Democratic and Labour Party Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland who was a central organizer of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry on 30 January 1972. The march ended when British Army paratroopers fired on the demonstrators, killing thirteen instantly and wounding another person who died 4½ months later. Ivan organizes a march in Northern Ireland to increase awareness & to fight for equality in civil rights, along with the end of Unionist rule, with the British. The British army in response bans all parades & marches in light of the security situation in Northern Ireland. Major General Ford is flanked by Brigadier Patrick Maclellan (Nicholas Farrell). Ivan says that ever since the partition of Ireland, the Catholics of the North are suffering discrimination in a protestant dominated land. Ivan is adamant that their planned march is peaceful and will go ahead, while Ford says that the law is the law and must be respected. The day starts with British troops in heavy numbers occupying the streets of Derry. The troops are carrying full combat gear, including riot equipment. Jerry is an ordinary Irishman who has a girlfriend, leads an ordinary life & is an SDLP member. Jerry leaves his home on 30th Jan with his friends, to join Ivan & other SDLP members for the march. The British commanders order troops to make as many arrests as possible & authorize them to use deadly force if the Irish start any violence. Their objective was to arrest at least 200 to 300 of the Derry "hooligans" who participate in the march. The orders are to shoot plenty of rounds if the shooting starts. The whole of Derry is encircled with nobody allowed to go in or out. Meanwhile Ivan is distributing pamphlets to women & children to join their march. The British army is given explicit instructions to pick up the key members of SDLP during the march. Ivan tries to talk to the local cops to let them know that theirs is a peaceful demonstration. But the cops refuse to listen as they are also acting under orders from the army. Ivan is worried at the huge military presence but decides to proceed with the march to keep the Irish civil rights movement alive. Ivan is adamant to have a peaceful march & warns the IRA to keep away from the event. Ivan has women and children also participating in the march. The IRA tells Ivan that he is being paid by Westminster as a Member of Parliament and hence nobody is going to take his march seriously. A British general Ford (Tim Pigott-Smith) flies into Derry to oversee operations & is almost convinced that the Irish will create trouble. His entire squad refers to the Irish as hooligans. The general approves of the plan to catch the marchers into a pincer with 2 companies of the British army swooping from opposite sides. A smattering of snipers is placed over the roofs all over Derry to lookout for IRA members and to shoot them on sight in case they try to attack the British forces. The army had also got the British media on stand by to present their side of the story. The Derry police chief Lagan (Gerard McSorley) contacts Ford and says that he has spoken to SDLP, who want to avoid a confrontation. Ford simply ignores him. His junior explains that 43 British troops have lost their life in operations in Northern Ireland & now Britain has had enough. The Police chief warns Ivan that the British are hard-lined & that Ivan should think about canceling. The marchers gather at the starting point, including Jerry. After a brief speech from Ivan, the marchers start. The crowd is thousands of people strong & contains many women & children. Their progress is closely followed by the British army. to avoid confrontation, Ivan decides to change the march path, but one faction of young marchers breaks away into the road which leads to the strongest checkpoints that the British have put up. Ivan goes after this group & tries to turn them back but fails & soon the Irish are face to face with the British army. Despite Ivan's efforts the breakaway faction starts stone pelting & the British respond with water cannons & rubber bullets. As the tension escalates, the British deploy tear gas & real bullets, killing 2 Irish. Ivan goes back to the main march & addresses the gathering on merits on non-violence to achieve their means of independence from the British union. The British start the pincer attack to arrest the protesters, but the breakaway faction rejoins the main group & brings down the entire British force onto the marchers. Live shots by British kill many Irish as they open fire on defenseless Irish. Jerry & his friends are injured as well. The British ignore calls for ceasefire from within their own ranks & continue their cold-blooded murder & even shoot folks who come to rescue the injured or the injured trying to crawl away from the shooting. As the chaos mounts, so does the body count. As sanity resumes, the British figure that they have just fired an enormous amount of ammunition on open crowds in front of the media & now they have to have some reasons for it. So, they instruct the troops to search for weapons, which they don't find. The British General Ford claims that his troops fired only in retaliation but admits that none of his soldiers were hit. Irish try to take Jerry to the hospital, but are stopped by an army roadblock & not allowed to proceed & Jerry dies. Ivan manages to reach the hospital & finds that they are overwhelmed with injured people lying in the halls. 13 dead & 14 injured. The British stuff Jerry's body with explosives to prove that they were attacked & open it up to the media. Ivan issues a statement saying that the British have destroyed the civil rights movement & given the IRA the biggest victory it will even have & the British will reap the consequences.
Bloody Sunday
Drama,History,War
Film Details
Don Mullan's politically influential book Eyewitness Bloody Sunday (Wolfhound Press, 1997). We see the events of the day through the eyes of Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt), a SDLP / Social Democratic and Labour Party Member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland who was a central organizer of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march in Derry on 30 January 1972. The march ended when British Army paratroopers fired on the demonstrators, killing thirteen instantly and wounding another person who died 4½ months later.
Ivan organizes a march in Northern Ireland to increase awareness & to fight for equality in civil rights, along with the end of Unionist rule, with the British. The British army in response bans all parades & marches in light of the security situation in Northern Ireland. Major General Ford is flanked by Brigadier Patrick Maclellan (Nicholas Farrell).
Ivan says that ever since the partition of Ireland, the Catholics of the North are suffering discrimination in a protestant dominated land. Ivan is adamant that their planned march is peaceful and will go ahead, while Ford says that the law is the law and must be respected. The day starts with British troops in heavy numbers occupying the streets of Derry.
The troops are carrying full combat gear, including riot equipment. Jerry is an ordinary Irishman who has a girlfriend, leads an ordinary life & is an SDLP member. Jerry leaves his home on 30th Jan with his friends, to join Ivan & other SDLP members for the march.
The British commanders order troops to make as many arrests as possible & authorize them to use deadly force if the Irish start any violence. Their objective was to arrest at least 200 to 300 of the Derry "hooligans" who participate in the march. The orders are to shoot plenty of rounds if the shooting starts.
The whole of Derry is encircled with nobody allowed to go in or out. Meanwhile Ivan is distributing pamphlets to women & children to join their march. The British army is given explicit instructions to pick up the key members of SDLP during the march.
Ivan tries to talk to the local cops to let them know that theirs is a peaceful demonstration. But the cops refuse to listen as they are also acting under orders from the army. Ivan is worried at the huge military presence but decides to proceed with the march to keep the Irish civil rights movement alive.
Ivan is adamant to have a peaceful march & warns the IRA to keep away from the event. Ivan has women and children also participating in the march. The IRA tells Ivan that he is being paid by Westminster as a Member of Parliament and hence nobody is going to take his march seriously.
A British general Ford (Tim Pigott-Smith) flies into Derry to oversee operations & is almost convinced that the Irish will create trouble. His entire squad refers to the Irish as hooligans. The general approves of the plan to catch the marchers into a pincer with 2 companies of the British army swooping from opposite sides.
A smattering of snipers is placed over the roofs all over Derry to lookout for IRA members and to shoot them on sight in case they try to attack the British forces. The army had also got the British media on stand by to present their side of the story. The Derry police chief Lagan (Gerard McSorley) contacts Ford and says that he has spoken to SDLP, who want to avoid a confrontation.
Ford simply ignores him. His junior explains that 43 British troops have lost their life in operations in Northern Ireland & now Britain has had enough. The Police chief warns Ivan that the British are hard-lined & that Ivan should think about canceling.
The marchers gather at the starting point, including Jerry. After a brief speech from Ivan, the marchers start. The crowd is thousands of people strong & contains many women & children.
Their progress is closely followed by the British army. to avoid confrontation, Ivan decides to change the march path, but one faction of young marchers breaks away into the road which leads to the strongest checkpoints that the British have put up. Ivan goes after this group & tries to turn them back but fails & soon the Irish are face to face with the British army.
Despite Ivan's efforts the breakaway faction starts stone pelting & the British respond with water cannons & rubber bullets. As the tension escalates, the British deploy tear gas & real bullets, killing 2 Irish. Ivan goes back to the main march & addresses the gathering on merits on non-violence to achieve their means of independence from the British union.
The British start the pincer attack to arrest the protesters, but the breakaway faction rejoins the main group & brings down the entire British force onto the marchers. Live shots by British kill many Irish as they open fire on defenseless Irish. Jerry & his friends are injured as well.
The British ignore calls for ceasefire from within their own ranks & continue their cold-blooded murder & even shoot folks who come to rescue the injured or the injured trying to crawl away from the shooting. As the chaos mounts, so does the body count. As sanity resumes, the British figure that they have just fired an enormous amount of ammunition on open crowds in front of the media & now they have to have some reasons for it.
So, they instruct the troops to search for weapons, which they don't find. The British General Ford claims that his troops fired only in retaliation but admits that none of his soldiers were hit. Irish try to take Jerry to the hospital, but are stopped by an army roadblock & not allowed to proceed & Jerry dies.
Ivan manages to reach the hospital & finds that they are overwhelmed with injured people lying in the halls. 13 dead & 14 injured. The British stuff Jerry's body with explosives to prove that they were attacked & open it up to the media.
Ivan issues a statement saying that the British have destroyed the civil rights movement & given the IRA the biggest victory it will even have & the British will reap the consequences..