Review of Bloody Sunday (2002) by Chris B — 10 Apr 2005

My ancestry is 100% Irish. Nevertheless, I was looking forward to one a historical film about my family's native country and one of it's worst days.

Unfortunately, the movie's basis is chaos even before the shootings and we don?t learn anything about the characters, and therefore I didn't really feel more emotional toward them when they experienced pain, fear or death then I did for the extras. What this movie did, which wont get noticed, is that it showed that both sides of the battle were in the wrong. While the march was intended to be peaceful, when the military set up blockades to stop them from going down certain streets, several groups of marchers threw bricks and stones at the officers and soldiers. Much later, After the stones have continued to be thrown, the police used water hoses, teargas and other methods deemed fully legal in the U.S. It wasn't until IRA members started appearing with guns that the military started shooting. In the end 13 died and 14 were injured.

Many think that this is an anti-government movie with ties to the belief of how terrible order is. If this is that case, then people need to understand the greater lesson here, both sides went way too far and are mutually to blame for the incident.

The only character I cared anything about was the peaceful leader of the protest who said that peace is the only way even when things were at its worst. James Nesbitt is great in this film and fills me with some pride for my ancestors because his character showed that there were some, even if a select few, who kept his head and strived for peace through peace.