Sparked by my pick of Shadow Dancer as this week’s DVD/Stream of the Week, I’ve posted a new movie list: Best Movies About The Troubles (Northern Ireland). The Troubles was the conflict in Northern Ireland between nationalists and unionists that lasted from the late 1960s until the 1998 Good Friday Accord.
2002’s Bloody Sunday tells the story of one of the most significant moments of The Troubles, the 1972 shootings in Derry, from the perspective of a key participant – Ivan Cooper, the leader of a movement to achieve a united Ireland through non-violent means. Northern Irish actor James Nesbitt is brilliant as Cooper, a man who is trying to do the impossible – lead a mass demonstration into a tinderbox and keep it peaceful. It’s possible that either or both the unionist paramilitaries and the IRA may provoke violence to further their own aims. The British are supposed to protect the marchers from the unionists, but they’re on edge and trigger-happy. Cooper is forced to play a desperate game of Whack-a-Mole to prevent violence.
Besides Shadow Dancer and Bloody Sunday, I discuss a number of other outstanding movies about The Troubles. One film contains one of the greatest surprise plot twists in movie history. You can see the list at Best Movies About The Troubles (Northern Ireland), find out how to watch them on DVD or stream them.