Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland

Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland is a harrowing, sad, and moving 5-part documentary about the 30-year Troubles conflict in Northern Ireland. There are so many years, even centuries, of history that produced the Troubles, but that is not the purview of this documentary. What it is about, is the stories of people who lived through the Troubles, from all sides, and how they experienced growing up and living through such a time. Interviewees include Protestants and Catholics, Loyalists and Republicans, British Army members, and people who were civilians just trying to live their lives.

Some of the people interviewed who stuck with me the most were the daughter of a hunger striker, the son of a woman who was kidnapped and murdered by the IRA, and the wife of a policeman from a small country town whose husband was murdered outside the hospital after she gave birth. I think one of the most disturbing parts was a brief newsreel clip of an older woman out doing shopping who said that you just get used to the bomb scares.

The riots were so intense that I'm surprised that Northern Ireland didn't fall into civil war. I'm not quite sure what sparked the eventual peace talks that led to the Good Friday Agreement that was the wind down from the Troubles; it seems like many people just finally reached the end of their tethers and were fed up of living in a state of perpetual fear and war-readiness. I'm not sure how people lived through that era, and I hope they don't have to again.

A sad overview of ‘The Troubles’, the waste of lives and the terrible mess that was Ulster. An insight into those who inflicted and endured the violence.