Omagh

Having just seen this film, I believe that some superlatives are warranted! The performances in this film are hauntingly powerful, most notably Gerald Mcsorley, whose immense portrayal adds credibility and resonance to the tragic story. The direction is magnificent...mostly shot in the style of a documentary, while refraining from actually being a mockumentary. This also adds weight. The fact that this creative, interesting and powerful film only finds a home on TV, rather than at the cinemas...while films like Sex lives and the Potato Men gets a general release, says a lot about the British Film industry!

I am to young to remember the Omagh bombing but the film made you feel you were really their at the bombing and after.

The movie is based on a real event when 29 innocent people died by a car bomb planted by the real I.R.A (Irish Republican Army) The film focuses on Michael Gallagher and his family who lost there 19 year old son Aiden in the bombing. This results in the rest of the family trying to fit in without Aiden but fail. They then join a support group hoping to bring the I.R.A to justice.

Paul Greengrass(United 93,The Bourne Ultimatum) gives a fantastic script and Pete Travis does fantastic work in the direction and turns it into a movie that has you reaching for your handkerchiefs.

It is very rare to see a cheap film with a small and unknown cast and even an unknown director and turn it into a fascinating and wonderful drama that couldn't be topped no matter how much Hollywood stars or money would be put in it was a rare but special treat with almost no mistakes. Omagh will be very hard to find in a DVD shop but once you see it all that work will be worth it.

A deeply moving account of the 1998 bombing of Omagh by the Real IRA and its aftermath. The film focuses on the struggle of the families of the victims to obtain justice in the face of puzzling official indifference.

Gerard McSorley's performance as Michael Gallagher, the chairman of the families group, is extraordinary. It is reminiscent in its intensity and emotional range of Jack Lemmon in Missing. McSorley deserves to win every award for which he is eligible and it is unlikely that a better performance will be seen on film this year.

When so much film making glorifies those who perpetrate slaughter across the world this film demonstrates the real heroism of victims of violence coming to terms with grief, rebuilding their lives and refusing to be ignored by the powerful.

Superb.

I never heard of Peter Travis prior to "Omagh" but the direction in this film deserves more than equal billing with Gerard McSorley, who stars the bereaved father who becomes chairman of the Omagh Support Group. The mounting tension at the start of the film as the bomb is positioned, the police are warned and the crowd on the High Street is herded to the spot where the explosion takes place is enough to take your breath away. It doesn't matter in the least that the accents are difficult for these American ears to understand at the film's beginning because you somehow know exactly what's happening at every moment. The frantic search for the missing son, the dawning realization that he has died, the intense grief, the formation of the Omagh Support Group with McSorley emerging as its leader, the effort to ensure that the investigation is pursued, the determination of the politicians that the incident not be allowed to derail "the peace process," the evasions and downright lies of the police, the mysterious emergence of the truth, the condemnation of police conduct by the police ombudswoman -- all are rendered with controlled intensity that never flags. One device that Travis and his cameraman use repeatedly to great effect is the extreme closeup in which a portion of the character's face is shown, framed usually at an artful angle that a skilled portrait photographer might adopt for a still picture. Those pictures capture the emotions of the characters with particular force. The tragedy of Omagh is brought alive to devastating effect. Don't let the fact that it was made for TV deter you from seeing this superb movie.

In 1998 the so-called Real IRA (a split from the original IRA that didn't agree with the peace process in Northern Ireland) exploded a 200 kg bomb in one of the most crowded streets of the city of Omagh. More than 30 dead, hundreds of wounded people... No one were judged for those crimes. The politicians were afraid that the peace process might end and just "let it be".

"Omagh" approaches to those facts from the point of view of the victims. The initial shock, the confusion, the anxiety... The first half hour of the movie is just hair-raising, and if you're a very sensitive person you should't see it. For the rest of you: the film is just superb, and it isn't gruesome at all. Pete Travis shows the facts as they were, but so carefully and with a style that makes the movie look like a documentary.

The work of the actors is outstanding, for it's so hard to play that kind of characters (they're so emotional).

*My rate: 8/10