I thought i should say some little thing about the recent film “’71” which I watched recently. There has been some talk about it and generally it accrued some rave reviews from various film critics.You may have read about it or maybe even saw it yourself.
It’s set in Belfast in 1971, when the Troubles were just clicking up a gear. Things were rapidly running out of control and British troops had been sent in , supposedly as a buffer between two warring communities living cheek by jowl , specifically in one small part of Belfast. The divided territory was demarcated by the Falls Road, with loyalism’s stronghold on one side and nationalism’s on the other. So far so good. ….
I’ll not spoil any plotlines if you haven’t seen it. It is well acted and very realistic. The metal bin lids being banged on the pavement as a community signal, by the womenfolk , during a house search, reminded me how many physical things have changed in the past forty plus years. There were no wheelie bins then and no one was worrying about re-cycling boxes either. Life was being lived in a much more visceral and grubby way.
The film had a 1960’s “Kitchen Sink” quality to it . Indeed it was mostly filmed very tightly and in a very claustrophobic way. It could have been Anytown though . We never got beyond those tight wee alleyways and the sepia gloom of those old pubs. I lived and worked in Belfast that year and it was nowhere to be seen in this film.
As a human story it worked well.It was seen from the perspective of a young Englishman who had basically joined the army to see a bit of the world and wasn’t too jubilant to find himself in a incomprehensible political and social situation, just minutes away ,across the Irish Sea.He was leaving his own sense of emptiness and unfullfilment behind him. In this scenario, he was only a mere pawn in a much larger game. That’s the thing that struck me about the film.To the Englishmen we were all just homogenous “paddies” to be sorted out …even as some of the loyalist “paddies” were basically on their side.There were so many scenarios that would have been incomprehensible to anyone who had never experienced life in Ireland during those years . Incomprehensible too if they were watching this as an action movie. That’s the problem , really …all the civilians were interchangeable , with their lank early 1970s hairstyles, and mostly lack of anything remotely like personal grooming or style.The combatants were generally not in any kind of uniform . That was probably a very authentic touch .Usually in newsreels there are berets , dark glasses and the rest of the parphernalia. These young men operated in cheap off -the- peg jackets, jumpers and suits.
Some attempt at explaining the backgrounds of the characters was made,of course, but without knowing about the tensions within the old Official IRA and the new hot-gun Provos or the extent that British intelligence was exerting within both the loyalist camp and the nationalists , even at this early stage , much of the action’s raison d’etre would leave Mildred from Milton Keynes , scratching her head in bafflement . That’s not even getting into the strong colloquial accents . I felt a little like the first time I watched “The Wire” without subtitles, but at least I had personal background knowledge of life in Norneverland.
This might sound like I am being disparaging about a fine film .I’m not. I think it could have worked better as a series like “Homeland” where characterisation could have been developed further and in the end making our madly uncontrolled situation, better understood.
Recently there has been much talk about producing a dark comedy set in the time of the Great Irish Famine. There might be even more mileage in a series with the reach of “The Sopranos” or “Homeland ” but set instead , during the Troubles in Ireland .it could work if the writers were knowledgeable enough and if the writing had a balance in it to cut through all the half-truths and fantasy. They might have to be careful with the accents though.A good sound- recording man would be a requisite.
As an aside , it should be noted that….the entire film was shot in England .It began on location in Blackburn, Lancashire{ of Beatles’ 4000 holes , fame} in April 2013 and continued in Sheffield and Liverpool. I wonder did the film crew ever set foot in Ireland at all.
Location: Dislocaton and that Location.
There might have been a touch of the quid pro quo, Harry, about the shooting of 1971 Again entirely in England.
Considering that the outdoor scenes of King Henry V were filmed in County Wicklow in neutral Eireland in 1943. W. Churchill, who spent part of his childhood in Dublin in the same big house where E. Childers was later to spend part of his adulthood, directed the director Larry ‘Laurence’ Olivier to make the movie as a morale booster for the troops during the Second War to end all Wars.
Whether this contravened the neutrality of Eireland is still both a moot and a mute point.
The production company recruited hundreds of local goatsuckers (the technical term for Wickla’ men) and every one who brought along his own horse was offered an extra …quid. Regarding the quo: it is believed there was, yes, a murder of quos once King Henry V had uttered his renowned battle cry: ‘Cry God for Harry ! England and Saint George !’
Larry O, who both acted and directed the movie, nipped and tucked the screenplay by J. William Shakespeare, Jr and it is allegedly rumoured that he snipped the following lines from the chorus:
‘Can this cockpit hold
The vastly fields of France? or may we cram
Within this wooden O the very casques
That did afright the air at Agincourt ?’
From the feast of Crispian to the city of crisp-sandwiches:Belfast, where Roman Polanski’s favourite fillum was shot: ‘Odd Man Out’. In its entirety,almost.
Incidentally, when it comes to crisps in non-working class Dublin, where the daily diet has the crisp-sandwich as its main staple, a nod is made in the direction of the former colonial masters. This is evident in the pronunciation: cripps. Yes, in honour of Sir Stafford Cripps who once served as Lord Privy Seal. Which meant he saw to it that the W.C.s were securely locked after the Business of the Day was done. in the House of Commons.
But:’Odd Man Out’. Not only was it Roman P’s favourite fillum but it also featured the Abbey Theatre’s finest ever actor, F.J. McCormick (ne,Judge) in the minor role of the opportunistic bird-fancier.. James Mason, the star of this celluloid classic, and a good, erm, judge of acting talent, opined that F.J. could have become a legend of the silver s. if he had been so minded.
The Crown Bar, of course, is the most famous location of the ‘Odd Man Out’. Sort, of. Its interior scenes were actually shot in a studio in Denham, Buckinghamshire. The same studio, incidentally, where the interior scenes of King Henry V were shot.
But don’t mention that to Bord Failte, Beal Feirste. If you know what I mean, ‘Arry?
To conclude: a strangely underrated movie, based on a novel located in Belfast was shot on location in Dublin: ‘The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne’.
Akin to ‘Booing the Bishop’ being shot in London, if Derry proves too costly.
Larry O
My day will indeed come, as you eloquently hint in that last sentence, Perkie. Keep up the good technicolour work…
Good stuff Mighty Perk.We’re hanging onto your every bat-squeak her in Neverland of the Norn…‘Cry God for Harry !” indeed!!!
I have been wary of `troubles` films ever since watching Harry`s Game way back in 1982 and cringing when one of the IRA men talked about `taking the war to the mainland`. Hopefully this film will be just a little bit more realistic.