This may be a stretch, but slowtwitch usually comes through…
With Paddy’s day around the corner I was talking to my students about the “troubles” in Ireland over the years, and explaining what is currently going on and the recent bit of renewed violence.
It had me wondering if there was a good documentary out there that kind of outlined the history of the conflict, especially the 60’s-90’s era of unrest?
Anybody know of anything???
PS - no hollywood movies, just documentaries.
Thanks
Frontline on PBS did a show on Ireland:
http://www.pbs.org/...frontline/shows/ira/
Edit: It’s on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=453D562307B65425
Also, not a documentary but this is Sunday Bloody Sunday from Rattle and Hum, filmed on the same day as the Enniskillen bombing which happened that morning. Bono addresses the ‘glory of the revolution’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9c4lLnY0rA
Good luck trying to find an impartial piece of work my friend. I served there with the military for more than 2 years in the 80’s and came away with the opinion that both sides are as bad as each other. They are fighting a battle that started in the 1690’s and will never be resolved whilst there are two separate religions occupying the same or adjacent pieces of land.
I went there with an open mind but came back just hoping that an end to the violence would come at some point.
It’s a pity because it’s a beautiful country with great people, unfortunately the politicians and the terrorists on both sides have made a career of the troubles and can’t do anything else now.
This isn’t a documentary, but documentary-style, and very good.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280491/
There seems to be one, but I’ve not seen it.
http://www.evesmag.com/tereshchuk.htm
Just as interesting is the Blanket Protest.
Some Mother’s Son and H3 are about that.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117690/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0290641/#comment
An excellent book about the protest is “On The Blanket” by Tim Pat Coogan.
http://books.google.com/books?id=7XWcPYX3udkC
Pretty much any book by TPC is good.
And like another poster said, you probably won’t find many (any?) with a tempered, even view of the whole Troubles (including me). I was in Belfast one week before the first truce and it was very eye-opening. And hearing Gerry Adams speak in San Francisco in a packed auditorium full of Irish and Irish-Americans was one of the most electric moments ever.
clm
Good luck trying to find an impartial piece of work my friend. I served there with the military for more than 2 years in the 80’s and came away with the opinion that both sides are as bad as each other. They are fighting a battle that started in the 1690’s and will never be resolved whilst there are two separate religions occupying the same or adjacent pieces of land.
I went there with an open mind but came back just hoping that an end to the violence would come at some point.
It’s a pity because it’s a beautiful country with great people, unfortunately the politicians and the terrorists on both sides have made a career of the troubles and can’t do anything else now.
Where were you stationed?
ditto the Frontlines documentary, its very good.
And to prove your negativity wrong…
Mr. & Mrs Cowan, Martin McGuinness, and the Revd. & Mrs Paisley out enjoying the sights in New York yesterday…one big happy family.
I was in the West around Derry, Tyrone and down into Co Fermanagh.
You are correct. They do appear to have made huge gains. These people have murdered each other for generations and are making an attempt to work together. I genuinely hope that the process continues and give all the good people of both North and South the peace they deserve.
I met some great people there and have good memories.
Well I’m glad that when you visited Norn Irn you got to see the nice parts, Belfast is an awful slum of a place. 
I was in Derry in the 80s too, who knows you might have been one of the squaddies that came and visited us one morning at 5am! heh heh heh.
Maybe, what part of the City were you ? I was mostly around the West of town from the Creggan to Shantallow. I preferred County Fermanagh it was a beautiful place with amazing scenery. The city…not so much although it definately beat working in Strabane area. that was a hole. .
Just off the Northland Road, near Magee University.
This isn’t a documentary, but documentary-style, and very good.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0280491/
clm
I second “Bloody Sunday” as a remarkable documentary-style film. It is well-made and gives you a real sense of how chaotic a situation like that can quickly become. Whether it’s an accurate portrayal of what happened that day is an open issue, so it may or may not be what you want as a teaching tool.
After all, back in Jan 1998, the British government opened another formal inquiry into that day, and the latest word is that the final report will not be issued until late 2009, early 2010. Now that’s a long process. The website for the inquiry has a lot of witness transcripts and other materials – http://www.bloody-sunday-inquiry.org.uk/
Can you guys tell me what has led to the recent violance against th police? Is it secterian?
I visited Belfast in the mid 90’s during one of the truces and have been interested in No. Ireland ever since.
BTW Belfast was like a ghost town at night.
I used to work out of the vehicle checkstop on Buncrana road a lot. I hear it’s all changed now. I was at Clooney base which I hear is also gone. I’m sure it’s a better place than it was when I was there.
From what I understand the official IRA which is the military wing of Sinn Fein has laid down arms and is going along with the peace process. There are a number of breakaway organisations such as “The real IRA” which do not agree with power sharing or the peace accord. I hear that this is the group being blamed at the moment although a member of the official IRA has also been arrested. The sad thing is that the 2 soldiers killed were engineers about to deploy to Afghanistan.
It’s a twisty turny world in Northern Irish politics and it’s tough to keep track of who is who. The books mentioned earlier give a good insight into the political goings on during the troubles.
Maybe, what part of the City were you ? I was mostly around the West of town from the Creggan to Shantallow. I preferred County Fermanagh it was a beautiful place with amazing scenery. The city…not so much although it definately beat working in Strabane area. that was a hole. .
Strabane? Been there. If things had gone a different direction, I’d be living in Raphoe or Letterkenny and probably never heard of Slowtwitch.
And I agree, Co. Fermanagh is beautiful.
clm
I used to work out of the vehicle checkstop on Buncrana road a lot. I hear it’s all changed now. I was at Clooney base which I hear is also gone. I’m sure it’s a better place than it was when I was there.
It has changed A LOT. That whole checkpoint complex is gone, nothing there anyore by a small memorial to Patsy Gillespie and the soldiers that were killed there. There are homes now all they way up to the border.
I used to run the backroad that ran parallel to the Buncrana Road from Springtown acroass the border out to Grianan. Probably about once every few weeks I’d stumble across some of your guys hiding in a ditch.
Can you guys tell me what has led to the recent violance against th police? Is it secterian?
I visited Belfast in the mid 90’s during one of the truces and have been interested in No. Ireland ever since.
BTW Belfast was like a ghost town at night.
Russ has his terminology a bit off. The Official IRA declared a ceasefire back in the early 70s and the Provisional IRA broke away to continue the fighting, they were the military wing of Sinn Fein and they declared a ceasefire in 1994.
The idiots who started shooting again are called the “Real IRA” or “Continuity IRA” and their goal is to provoke a response from loyalist paramilitaries and start a secterian war. Thankfully thus far they have not responded.
They are nothing but petty criminals, drug dealers and scumbags who once held a lot of power in Northern Ireland and they have been left behind by the peace process and democracy and are hoping to drag the country back into another civil war so that they can once again control their little fifedoms.