Irish Troubles

During the Reformation, England took over Ireland and imposed Protestantism upon its Catholic population. Then British settlers moved over and grabbed Ireland’s best land. Later, in 1690, followers of King James II, a Catholic, fought against supporters of challenger William of Orange, a Protestant. William won.

For the next 200 years, Ireland saw rebellions flare up and die.

Irish battles were particularly fierce during the 20th Century.

When British soldiers summarily executed leaders of the 1916 “Easter Uprising,” a member of the Irish Republican Army decided to fight fire with fire. Michael Collins’ irregular battle strategies became a model for modern guerrilla warfare.

Neil Jordan’s “Michael Collins” (1996) is a fairly accurate portrayal of the real man’s life. It starts with the Easter Uprising and follows Collins’ disagreement with Eamon de Valera, Chief of the IRA and, at the time, a believer in diplomacy.

Collins (Liam Neeson) brought the British to their knees and got them to agree to home rule but not complete independence for the Irish Free State.

De Valera objected to the compromise treaty, separated from Collins, and waged war for full independence. At age 31 Collins was gunned down, perhaps by de Valera’s faction. The real de Valera became President of the Irish Free State in 1932 and President of the Republic of Ireland (free of England at last) in 1959.

Some Protestants, sympathetic to a unified Irish Republic, have struggled alongside Catholics in the still British-controlled Northern Ireland.

“Bloody Sunday” (2002) recreates the 1972 British massacre of civil rights marchers in Londonderry. Directed and written by Paul Greengrass, an Englishman who once worked for BBC TV, the documentary-like film sympathizes with the marchers and criticizes not only local representatives of the British army but also Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Bloody Sunday participants protested two British policies: internment without trial and a ban on the right to march. They were led by a Protestant Member of Parliament, Ivan Cooper (James Nesbitt), who represented a Catholic constituency.

On October 5, 1974, perhaps in response to spring bombings which killed 33 people in Dublin, two London bombs killed five more. Under emergency provisions of the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act, four Irish youths and family members of one of them, Jerry Conlon (Daniel Day Lewis), were arrested. At the time of their trial the prosecution withheld evidence that proved their innocence.

The “Guildford Four” were found guilty and sent to jail. They were released in 1989 after their lawyer (Emma Thompson) discovered evidence marked “not to be disclosed to the defense.”

Jim Sheridan’s movie “In the Name of the Father” (1993) is based partly upon the book Conlon wrote about his experience

“Father” powerfully explores not only how innocent people have been caught up in “the Troubles” but also the relationship between a father and his son.

George also directed and wrote the screenplay (with Jim Sheridan) for “Some Mother’s Son” (1996), another story about how the innocent have been politicized by Ireland’s struggle. It, too, re-enacts an historical event, the 1976-1981 protest by Bobby Sands and other Irish prisoners in the British Maze Prison.

These excellent films teach much more than the history of Ireland’s struggle for independence. They contribute beautifully to the global artistic canon about the human struggle for self-determination.