The Great Silence (1968)

The rich get richer and the poor get dead. Grim as fuck.

Letterboxd Review

'71 (2014)

It's 1971, the height of the troubles in Northern Ireland and a young soldier (Jack O'Connell) is left behind after his platoon come under attack while supporting a Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) raid on a house near the Falls Road in Belfast.

What starts off as a simple tale of a soldier finding his way back to base, slowly turns into a critique of the RUC's and, more importantly, the Military Reaction Force's (MRF) tactics during a period when Belfast was a Molotov cocktail just waiting for a match. In fact O'Connell's character can almost be thought of as a McGuffin, driving the story forward but having little actual importance, he could be any soldier, an "Everysoldier". What is important is what happens around him; the murders, violence, betrayals, alliances, apathy, anger. That's not to say that O'Connell sleepwalks through the role though. His performance is subtle and ever-changing, showing innocence, naivety, sadness, bewilderment and a genuine concern for the people of Belfast.

Another large part of the film is dedicated to the growth of the, then in their infancy, Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA) and their conflict with the old guard of the Irish Republican Army (IRA). Sometimes this comes over as a little too black & white and straightforward with the PIRA being portrayed as young firebrands using any means necessary to remove the British from Irish soil and the traditional values of the soldiers of the IRA.

There are some truly shocking moments that will make even the most hardened war film viewers gasp. Filmed in Sheffield and Blackburn, the film makers make a great job of portraying an almost Beirut-like, war-torn Belfast full of boarded-up houses, burning cars, and warren-like alleys.

A couple of pieces of dialogue sum up the film pretty well:

• When the wee kid asks O'Connell "You're not Catholic with a name like that. Are you protestant then?" he replies "Dunno".
• Then later a conversation between O'Connell and a young woman: "Derby and Nottingham don't really get on", "Oh, why's that?", "Don't really know".

Says it all really.

To give you an idea of the number of deaths during this period, during the years 2003 to 2011, 179 British soldiers died in Iraq. In years 1971 to 1978, 544 British soldiers died in Ireland/Northern Ireland. This doesn't even take into account civilian deaths (1118). I wonder if we've forgotten about this terrible period in our country's history far too quickly.

Anyway, here's some homework for you:

• The incredibly dodgy Military Reaction Force 
• Provisional Irish Republican Army 
• Royal Ulster Constabulary 
• Conflict deaths in Northern Ireland (1969 to 2010) 

And for all you old punks out there, here's some Angelic Upstarts:

Last night another soldier, last night another child
No one seems to worry, no one sees his mother cry

Can you see that smart, clean soldier,
Standing straight and oh so proud
He wants to fight for Queen and country
He wants to make his family proud

A job with the future, his way to get out of it
It's his sense of romance, it never ends that way
Last night another soldier, last night another child
No one seems to worry, no one sees his mother cry

They're just facts and figures on your TV screen
Another child and another soldier, is peace just a dream

In the country strange and foreign all the people resent him
He can't cope with his problems, all the fears and hatred

Now he wish he never went he wish he never thought of it
It's not the same as fighting armies looking for the terrorists

They're just facts and figures...

Can you hear the mocking laughter from the ones that gain by it
They're not in line for the bullets, they're the ones who started it

They're just facts and figures...

Last night another soldier, last night another child
Just a number in the papers, another one of the innocent

They're just facts and figures..

Letterboxd Review

Pride (2014)

March Around The World 2015 Challenge - United Kingdom. A replacement for Colin.

As we come marching, marching in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: "Bread and roses! Bread and roses!"

-- James Oppenheim

A film about two, superficially at least, disparate and oppressed communities working together in the face of adversity.

If there's one thing I hate it's looking back at the 80's with rose-tinted glasses. The 80's were, to me at least, a time of inequity, unemployment, hate, section 28, the privatisation of national resources, fascism and Margaret fucking Thatcher, but from the opening scene I'm swept away in a stream of nostalgia, authenticity and solidarity. Pride is funny, moving, accurate and fearless. The next time the firefighters, nurses and teachers are portrayed as greedy and selfish, every time the working class are demonised by the government, media and your mates down the pub, and if your son or daughter comes out to you, think of Pride and do the right thing.

Remember, every person has the right to withhold their labour in protest to injustice. Had Pride been released in the late eighties it would have been banned from cinemas across the country due to Section 28.

Pride contains outstanding performances by a great ensemble cast (Joe Gilgun is awesome yet again)! Even Bill Nighy pulls his usual act back several notches.

Further reading:
Another reason to hate The Sun
The 1985 Gay Pride march

Pride is the dog's bollocks and many tears were shed!

This government had an idea
The Parliament made it law
Seems like it's illegal
To fight for the Union any more

And which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?

We set out to join the picket lines
For together we cannot fail
We got stopped by police at the county line
They said, "Go home, boys or you're going to jail"

And which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?

Well, it's hard to explain to a crying child
Why her Daddy won't go back
So the family suffer but it hurts me more
To hear a scab say, Sod you, Jack

Which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on, boys
Which side are you on?

Well, I'm bound to follow my conscience
And I'll do whatever I can
But it'll take much more than the Union law
To knock the fight out of a working man

And which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?
Which side are you on, boys?
Which side are you on?

-- Florence Reece

Original letterboxd review