Review of Bloody Sunday

Introduction

Bloody Sunday should need no introduction.

One of the darkest of many dark days in Northern Ireland is still as hotly debated today as it was when the British Army killed 13 unarmed civilians thirty years ago. The events in Londonderry escalated the conflict to a new level, and proved to be the starting point for many more atrocities from all sides, which have now thankfully abated as the two sides strive to find a peaceful settlement.

Video

The video is presented in 1.85:1 anamorphic widescreen and the film`s documentary style is helped by the deliberately grainy aged look to the print - which is so convincing that if you didn`t know any better, you would think that it was actual footage from 1972.

The documentary style is a success, although not without irritations - some of which being too much camera movement in hectic scenes making it difficult to see what is going on, and too many fade outs after scenes.

Aside from the print, the authenticity of the movie is cemented by the sets and costumes on display, which are excellent, and are very realistic. In addition, despite limited scope for a large scale re-creation of 1972 Londonderry, the filmmakers have done a sterling job presenting the bleak surroundings.

Audio

The soundtrack comes in Dolby Digital 5.1, and was surprisingly good, with the rear channels used for atmospheric sounds during the film, and bursting into life with gunfire and effects when the shooting starts.

Throughout the movie, the dialogue is clear and easy to understand.

Features

!!Health Warning!! - my review disc was an early pressing of the disc, and contains different extras to those listed by the retailers. For example my disc does not contain the World in Action documentary or the James Nesbitt commentary track. The original press release however did not mention the documentary, so the exact contents of the retail discs are open to discussion!

On this disc, the extras consist of a short four minute "on location" featurette, which is reasonably interesting, but way too short to be of real value; a question and answer session with the director; a directors commentary which gives the usual technical and background information; an eyewitness commentary which gives the insight of someone unlucky enough to have been involved in the parade and finally a stills gallery.

The menus are static and easy to navigate.

Conclusion

Overall, I really enjoyed watching Bloody Sunday, a thought-provoking drama based on horrifying events, which is extremely well made and feels very authentic.

Whilst the story of the day is well told, the film suffers from not having enough background information to explain why tensions rose to such a deadly level, why the Paras were in Derry, why the army was taking such a hard line, and why the civil rights movement had such great support in the community.

As a result, the film appears to instantly portray the Paras as a bloodthirsty group without exploring why this might have been the case. And while the eventual outcome of the day would seem to reinforce this point of view, the story is a little one-sided. We will probably never know the truth about Bloody Sunday - the British Government is unlikely to ever admit that 13 innocent civilians were murdered in cold blood, and similarly, the IRA is unlikely to admit that it may have triggered the killings by firing at the soldiers.

Whilst I said that I enjoyed watching Bloody Sunday, I`d like to say that when the killing starts, the film is harrowing, and if this proves to be the way things happened, the thought of our own soldiers murdering civilians in such cold blood is chilling - and must be a lesson that using the army to police civilians can lead to disaster.