Couldn't believe this film today: "Bloody Sunday"

Cafe Society
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(It is impossible to give a “spoiler” for this movie, because anyone who knows the subject matter knows how the movie ends: thirteen people shot dead, fourteen wounded, by the British Army on 1/30/72.)

Anyway, this movie was STERLING. Beautifully and realistically acted, and possibly an Oscar nominee. The direction: very realistic faux cinema verite. It was like I was watching something actually happening, and I reacted accordingly. It almost got to the point to where I didn’t want to watch anymore, it was that bad/good.

A moment of high pathos among many: an older gentleman wants to go out in the street and signal to the soldiers with his white handkerchief, and the younger demonstrators clutch at him, screaming “Oh no you don’t!” Don’t need to say what happens after that.

Minute after agonizing minute of people trying to run across the street and being shot, picked off really, by maniacs operating under cover of authority. Then people run out to help them and get shot too.

The Member of Parliament for the area (Ivan Cooper) was almost one of those shot people. I have to wonder if he got to mention anything in the Commons about it, or if he was shouted down or laughed at.

If the movie is truthful, then I’m glad the investigation was recently reopened. Somebody needs to go to jail for this, or at least have their medal from the Queen taken away.

Outside in the lobby, the movieplex had proudly posted the review from the Los Angeles Times. It was a favorable review, but the reviewer got it wrong. He was trying to draw a parallel between inflexible soldiers and inflexible Catholics. That, to me, is as ludicrous as blaming the fire hoses and the dogs on the Birmingham marchers. All the Catholics wanted to do was march peacefully.

I did do a search before posting, and it seems I’m the first one to start a specific thread on this movie. I think that may be because of limited distribution.

A word about limited distribution: it’s a crock. It’s tight-fisted and small-minded to think that only two cities in this whole big country (usually NY and LA) can handle cutting-edge cinema. If this film does well on the coast, it should do equally well in Austin, Denver or Chicago. The whole country deserves to see this.

UK/Ireland dopers: how’s the movie doing over there?

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It isn’t on cinema release here, it was done for television. And there were a couple threads about it, but they were lost in the great SDMB crash.

There were actually two films on the same subject broadcast within a couple weeks of each other. One of them I saw, and one I didn’t; I can’t remember which was the one you’re referring to. But I was very powerfully affected by the one I saw, and most people seemed to think the other was even better, so I know exactly where you’re coming from.

cough not that I’m biased on the subject or anything cough

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BTW I’d like to point out that your use of the term “Catholics” is not entirely accurate. While Catholics certainly formed the majority, the civil rights movement was not exclusively Catholic - Ivan Cooper, for one, was a Protestant.

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It is truly an astonishing movie (we’re talking about the cinéma verité faux-documentary one, not the Jimmy McGovern one, aren’t we?). Of course it generated controversy when it was shown, and was accused of being one-sided, but maybe the circumstances themselves were a bit one-sided…

Don’t know if it would qualify for an Oscar, would it? No Hollywood money involved, and not a foreign-language film.

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ruadh, you are so right, and the movie did indeed make it clear about Mr. Cooper’s Protestant affiliation. (I think it is implied that he was married to a Catholic.)

However, it was that goofy newspaper reviewer from the L.A. Times who used the term “inflexible Catholics.” I should have made it clear that I was quoting the inaccurate perceptions of someone else.

Mr. Cooper is part of a long tradition of Irish Proterstants who have stood up for Ireland – Wolfe Tone was one, and Charles Parnell (another member of Parliament) was another.

I wonder if Mr. Cooper is still around, and what he’s doing.

BTW: this movie was rated “R”, and the violence wasn’t even that graphic! Usually, violent movies are given a PG-13, but I guess this one got the “R” due to the intense realism.

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jjimm, even TV documentaries can qualify for Oscars. No problem about qualifying.

I would like to know about this Jimmy McGovern production, now.

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Interview with Ivan Cooper

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Sure, but I though that they had to have been Hollywood-funded. There’s a category for “best foreigh language movie”, isn’t there, but not best “foreign movie in English”! Maybe I’m wrong.

It’s called Sunday, and here are some reviews, but I can’t find it on the IMDB or anywhere else. I didn’t see it, either.

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Actually, the foreign language category is for “best picture in a language other than English”. Films from English-speaking countries can win regular old Oscars, and sometimes do. The funding source has nothing to do with it.

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Ah, I never realised that. Cheers!

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I saw this movie yesterday morning and it was indeed deeply moving. I knew the details of the day from my own familys’ discussions of it and much historical interest, but this was so much more than the sum of the historical facts.

Oscar nominations are the least it deserves.

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For any Canucks reading this thread, it’s just been posted by a Canadian on a mailing list I read that Bloody Sunday will be shown on the History Channel Monday night. She says “9 pm Canadian time”, whatever that means :smiley:

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What is this movie about? Being a Catholic of Irish and British descent. Mostly.

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smiling bandit: brief summary here.