This film is part of Free
Ulster
Hard-hitting guerrilla filmmaking in Northern Ireland.
Overview
A bracing alternative to the 'objective' TV coverage of Northern Ireland at the height of the Troubles. This hard-hitting political film was made by The Workers Press, journal of the far-left Workers Revolutionary Party. Whether or not you accept their political analysis, these intrepid guerrilla filmmakers managed to capture much unique and remarkable footage, painting a vivid partisan portrait of a place on the brink of civil war.
Decades before today's mobile phone-fuelled guerrilla journalism, a project like this, made using a 16mm camera, was a challenging undertaking. This busy film takes in rowdy demos and fiery speeches (by political opposites Bernadette Devlin and Ian Paisley), breathtaking car-seat views of city back streets, and quite close-up scenes of British troops (how did the filmmakers get such access?). The shipbuilding and textile mill scenes are meant to support the film's crude but forceful underlying argument that Ulster is a "land enslaved by British capital", ruthlessly dividing - and ruling - the protestant and catholic working classes.
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