Zu sehen sind nur Täter und Opfer, allesamt Männer, an trostlosen Orten wie Tankstellen, Parkhäusern, stillgelegten Fabrikhallen. Just like Belfast, this is a film about human beings and about making difficult decisions in times of war.
The 1921 Anglo-Irish Treaty, commonly known as The Treaty, ended the Irish War of Independence and led to the creation of the Irish Free State, no longer a part of the UK but still a dominion within the British Empire.
Through the lives of Damien and Teddy O’Donovan, and their friends and fellow fighters, we also get a glimpse of what was happening in Ulster after Partition, in those Six Counties that many anti-Treaty Irishmen and women felt the Treaty had betrayed and left behind.
Doch so leicht will ein jahrhundertealter Konflikt nicht ruhen.
Published: Nov 6, 2024written by Sara Relli, MA Modern, Comparative and Post-Colonial Literatures, MA Screenwriting
Over the years many films have been written, produced, and shot about (and in) Northern Ireland.
Die Mehrheit der Protestanten will, dass Nordirland Teil Großbritanniens bleibt. Most of them were Catholics, 172 were Protestants, and 82 were officers of the police and the British army.
As Belfast Catholics were being driven out of their houses en masse, and Catholic socialist workers kept losing their jobs, the Irish Republican Army (IRA) acted on behalf of the Northern Irish Catholics by raiding police barracks and ambushing police officers on patrol.
Kein politischer Kontext, keine psychologische Einfühlung verstellt den Blick auf die existenzielle Sinnlosigkeit dieses kalten Tötens. During a heated debate, Sinéad (Orla Fitzgerald), Damian’s love interest, who is staunchly anti-Treaty, reminds the group that “my cousins are on the streets of Belfast, burned from their homes by loyalist mobs,” and that there are “refugees all over Dublin.” In two years, in fact, between July 1920 and July 1922, 557 people were killed, according to figures provided by Thomas Hennessey.
Catholics and Protestants alike saw themselves as members of a community under attack.
If ’71 captures 1970s Belfast through the eyes of a man on the run, Belfast (2021) is above all a film about a child’s happy childhood in a city at war and about a family that wants to live in peace. Anyone can become a symbol. Loach’s film tells the story of two brothers from County Cork, Ireland, Damien (Cillian Murphy), and Teddy O’Donovan (Pádraic Delaney) over several years, from the War of Independence (1919-1921) to the Irish Civil War (1922-1923).
In Belfast, Ma and Pa choose to leave Northern Ireland and settle in Great Britain, away from the threat of violence.
They had all been framed.
The Gerry Conlon portrayed in Sheridan’s film couldn’t be more different from his father: he is feckless, irresponsible, a naïve drifter, and a petty thief. Ein Schritt, der die Stimmung im Land beruhigen sollte und dies für einige Zeit zumindest an der Oberfläche tat, gleichzeitig aber die Gräben weiter vertiefte.
Eine ähnlich parteiische, aber letztlich humanistische Perspektive vertritt "Mütter & Söhne" ("Some Mother's Son", IE/USA 1996) von Terry George, der den berüchtigten Maze-Gefängnis-Hungerstreik von 1981 aus der Sicht der betroffenen Mütter zeigt. As soon as Gary Hook steps out of the army truck, he stops being a human being. Loyalisten eskalierte, hatte das gespaltene Land schon eine bewegte Geschichte hinter sich.
The Troubles officially began with an uprising in August 1969, when the Bogside, Derry’s overwhelmingly Catholic neighborhood, witnessed the full-scale uprising of its inhabitants.
To prevent the RUC from entering their district, people began erecting barriers and throwing bricks at armored police vehicles. At that time, Branagh was nine, just like Buddy.
This event went down in history as the Battle of the Bogside.
Branagh’s admittedly autobiographical film focuses on the August 1969 riots in Belfast as seen through the eyes of Buddy and his family, his Ma (Caitríona Balfe), his Pa (Jamie Dorman), his Granny (Judi Dench) and his beloved Pop (Ciarán Hinds). Through their works and unique perspectives, we will try and understand why Northern Ireland continues to inspire filmmakers from across Europe and what it is in the history of this country that continues to resonate deeply with audiences worldwide.
“Posh c*nts telling thick c*nts to kill poor c*nts.
Hier wie dort gemahnen düstere Paten an Ehre, Familie und das Gesetz des Schweigens, in einem ewigen Teufelskreis aus Hass und Gewalt.
Als perfekte Antithese zu dieser genremäßigen Verbrämung gilt Alan Clarkes 39-minütiger Experimentalfilm "Elephant" (GB 1989). Selbst die alten IRA-Paten sind des Kämpfens müde. It doesn’t matter.
In the Name of the Father
From the story of two brothers fighting for Ireland’s independence to the (true) story of a father and son falsely accused of terrorism during the Troubles. Es kam zu einem Bürgerkrieg, zu einem «Wir gegen die», in dem die konkreten Gründe für die gegenseitige Feindschaft zunehmend abhanden kamen und durch einen historisch gewachsenen Hass auf die Gegenseite ersetzt wurden.
Mit Jordan und Sheridan, beide gebürtige Iren, beginnt in den 1980er-Jahren die künstlerische Auseinandersetzung mit Nordirland.
In The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Damien, a promising young doctor about to leave Ireland to practice medicine in London, decides to stay. Young men and women begin hurling stones at the British soldiers present in the area, who are ill-equipped for the riot.
The soldiers had been instructed not to wear their riot gear to avoid provoking anyone.
Nichts macht dies deutlicher als die hohen Mauern, etwa in Belfast zwischen den katholischen und protestantischen Wohnvierteln, die "peace lines" - "Friedenslinien". Shortly after meeting him, Billy the Loyalist kid remarks, “You’re not a Catholic, not with a name like that,” and proceeds to ask him the dreaded question, “Are you a Protestant?”
Hook shrugs, he doesn’t know.
Eben diese Situation verdeutlicht wiederum Sheridan 1997 in "Der Boxer": Mit einem überkonfessionellen Box-Klub will der entlassene IRA-Häftling Danny ein neues Leben beginnen. He stops being a “Derbyshire lad” and is transformed into a symbol — to be valued and cherished or demonized and destroyed. He decides to side with his brother and fight for a free Ireland.
This decision will change his life forever.
In so doing, they save their family, securing a future for their children away from war and sectarianism. After all, sectarian violence fails to infiltrate Buddy’s family. How do you set an example for your children when the world around you seems to equate the desire for peace with cowardice and treachery?
Spoiler Alert.
Der Zum Inhalt: Drehort Belfast bleibt bis auf ein Straßenschild anonym. Jahrhundert waren Teile Irlands erstmals von Briten besetzt worden, 1921 war es zur Teilung des Landes in die Republik Irland und das Großbritannien zugehörige Nordirland gekommen. He is also a symbol for Brigid (Charlie Murphy), the daughter of Eamon (Richard Dormer), the former army medic who rescues Hook and utters the iconic line from the beginning of the article as he tends to his wounds.
In the Name of the Father is essentially a film about human relations, about how they can be disrupted and altered, for better or for worse, by war.
Just like Belfast and The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Sheridan’s film shows us the long-term effects of violence, how it affects future generations, and how it inherently possesses the potential to generate further grief and death.