Film: The Ballymurphy Precedent

Tonight - yes, film again, and indeed, documentary again. This time, it was The Ballymurphy Precedent - about the Ballymurphy massacre, where 11 innocent people were killed by members of the British Parachute Regiment - the same regiment that would be responsible for Bloody Sunday, five months later. As someone in the film rightly points out, if the Ballymurphy massacre had been properly investigated, likely Bloody Sunday wouldn't have happened.. and it was the catalyst for so much more.. Complete with intro, it was happening at the BFI, and was selling strongly, so I booked. 

The bus driver fell short of expectations again - when a man wanted to get off, complete with buggy, and pressed the button, despite the fact that we had already stopped to take on passengers, the exit doors remained closed! Others pressed it twice more on his behalf - no good, the bus drove off again shortly afterwards, with him still on board. Cue lots of people shouting at the driver - they felt for him with the buggy, of course. What was the driver's response? "You should have pressed the button." I mean - short of hearing, or short attention span? Your guess is as good as mine..

Happily, I had no such problems - half the bus got off with me, so the driver couldn't ignore us. I arrived in decent time to go straight to the cinema, and upon arrival, discovered the film was part of a season called Hidden Truths: John Pilger and the Power of Documentary, which runs till Saturday. We had an intro from the director - who mentioned that the film has been criticised by, among others, the BBC - for its "lack of balance". Heh - this raised a titter or two from the audience; obviously, I'm not the only one who remembers the lack of balance in BBC reporting on Northern Ireland over the years. 

He tried to enter into an interesting philosophical debate on what "balance" means in an unequal society, but was cut off by the organisers, his time being limited. He also warned us that the film was designed to make us angry. And yes.. it did. It's actually a really good overview of the Troubles, giving a synopsis of what led up to 1971. But the opening shot (pictured) just reminded me of how small, how rural, Belfast really feels - I felt the same when I visited for U2 concerts, and could see the hills from my hotel window.

The film is heartbreaking, it's maddening, and it's quite thorough. I hadn't known that the massacre coincided with the start of internment - obviously the government was expecting trouble, and sent in a commander used to putting down rebellions in the colonies. And the Paras were his "right-hand men" - the two ex-soldiers (not Paras) interviewed during the film hadn't a good word to say about them, said other soldiers tended to avoid them.

So basically, they rolled into Ballymurphy - a Catholic enclave of Belfast - in August 1971, and over the next three days, shot on sight. Men, women, children. Towards the end of the film, we actually hear a quite plausible explanation for this - which in no way excuses it. And as well as the history leading up to this catastrophe, we hear how the Provisional IRA was founded as a protection for Catholic areas being attacked by Protestants, which moved from being a defensive organisation to an aggressive one. After all, the Catholics could trust neither police, who, when off-duty were prone to joining Loyalist gangs and attacking Catholic areas with them, nor, or course, the army..

We also hear about the 7,000 Catholic refugees that, fearing Loyalist reprisals, fled to the Republic. Something I never heard about, growing up.. I guess they thought it was too contentious, too recent. What with the Troubles still raging, as they were to do for 30 years.

No soldier has ever been prosecuted, either, of course. But at least this film sheds a glimmer of light on the truth.. showing in the BFI again on Saturday. Highly recommended, for an education about the conflict.

Booked to eat at The Archduke again afterwards - and guessed the time pretty well. I was a bit early, which wasn't a problem - was seated at the window, at the other side of a massive Christmas party that was on the point of winding up (at 9pm!). With a lovely view of the building site outside:

Determined not to have the same as last night, I thought about steak.. and then noticed the chicken, and suddenly remembered that apart from their gorgeous bourgignon, they also do the best roast chicken I've ever had! So I had that - first time in ages - and was well satisfied. And sure enough, rain having been forecast, it did rain as I made my way home..

Tomorrow, I'm planning to head to the Theatre Royal Haymarket with Up in the Cheap Seats, who are going to see Waiting for Godot - I always love Beckett. Stars Ben Whishaw. Someone from the group has decided she'd rather a sun holiday, so I'm taking her ticket, which is a decent one. And my sometime companion from the group is joining me at the Angus Steakhouse beforehand.

And on Thursday, I was thinking of film again - Cure is an unusually highly rated horror film, showing at the Prince Charles. Set in Japan, where a detective is flummoxed by a series of inexplicable murders, committed by people who all seem to have lost all trace of memory of the event! Now, I mentioned this to the organiser at the Frost Descends social - and lo, it turns out to be a film he always wanted to see, and never got to! Not only that, but it's said to have kick-started the subsequent wave of Asian horror. So.. now it's a Meetup, with The Hideout! Unusually for events in the area, we're headed to The Bear & Staff - well, he did say he wanted to find a different place. And I've eaten there before, and found it good - so I've booked to eat there beforehand.