Random Most Accurate Movies About Irish History (15 items)

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  (#1) Bloody Sunday

  • James Nesbitt, Gerard McSorley, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Christopher Villiers, James Hewitt, Kathy Kiera Clarke, Gerard Crossan, Allan Gildea, Mary Moulds, Carmel McCallion, Declan Duddy

  What It Gets Right: The historical Bloody Sunday was, on the surface, a simple event: British soldiers took the lives of 13 unarmed civilians who were protesting the internment of Irish political prisoners. The circumstances surrounding the event, however, are complex and mired in the specifics of Irish history. Paul Greengrass's Bloody Sunday focuses not on the dizzying politics of the situation, but on the emotional impact of the shocking event and the real people involved. When the film was released, the son of one of the victims said:

  What happened was total unjustified murder, and that is what you see on screen. They try to be fair to the paratroopers, but it is clear the blame lies with them and the British government who ordered them in.

  Where It Falls Short: While Greengrass's 2002 film depicts British soldiers gunning down two citizens before an Irishman returns fire, the truth may have been even worse. An official government inquiry declassified in 2010 called the soldiers' actions both " unjustified and unjustifiable." The inquiry paints an even more damning portrait than Bloody Sunday does.
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  (#13) Five Minutes of Heaven

  • Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca, Conor MacNeill, Jonathan Harden, Niamh Cusack, Richard Dormer, Mark Ryder, Diarmuid Noyes, Gerard Jordan, Paula McFetridge, Paul Garret, Gerry Doherty, Juliet Crawford, Kevin O'Neill, Katy Gleadhill, Mathew McElhinney

  What It Gets Right: Unlike the other movies on this list, Five Minutes of Heaven is not a period piece. Instead, it concerns two men trying to reconcile what they did and witnessed during the Troubles. However, the 2009 film contains accurate analyses of both Troubles and post-Troubles attitudes in Ireland, as well as a few juicy historical details. During a montage early in the film, younger versions of the two men walk through a meticulously recreated 1970s Irish suburb, and both watch the BBC show The Generation Game, which was popular at the time.

  Where It Falls Short: As with some other movies on this list, Five Minutes of Heaven is an entirely fictional story that represents historical events indirectly. 
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  (#10) Some Mother's Son

  • Helen Mirren, Aidan Gillen, Fionnula Flanagan, David O'Hara, John Lynch

  What It Gets Right: Director Terry George said of his film: 

  The main characters in "Some Mother's Son" are fictional, but the events are historically accurate. During the Hunger Strike, 21 Irish mothers faced the dilemma portrayed in this film. 

  He is correct, and many of the details of the film were faultlessly researched.

  Where It Falls Short: At the time of its release in 1996, the film was roundly criticized for being overly sympathetic to the IRA point of view, and not including any pro-British or Unionist perspectives. While this is undoubtedly true, it's hard to imagine how a movie about the mothers of political prisoners could include such a perspective. Regardless, some people in this milieu favored union and did not necessarily stand with the strikers.
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  (#7) The Wind That Shakes the Barley

  • Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald, Pádraic Delaney, William Ruane, Mary Murphy, Frank Bourke, Gerard Kearney, Myles Horgan, Mary O'Riordan, Damien Kearney, Aidan O'Hare, Laurence Barry

  What It Gets Right: Ken Loach's 2006 Palme d'Or-winning examination of the Irish conflict pays careful attention to historical detail in many sequences. Recreations of the rural County Cork were constructed with the help of a historical advisor. One of its most laudable accomplishments, however, is the way it presents the intense class conflicts within the Irish citizenry as multifaceted and not all motivated by hatred of the British.

  Where It Falls Short: The film exaggerates some ideological arguments. Loach centers a key treaty debate on a question of socialism. Brian Hanley of History Ireland argues that the socialist question was actually not terribly pressing in this debate, only arising afterward in reaction to the poor results of the treaty itself.
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  (#8) Michael Collins

  • Julia Roberts, Liam Neeson, Alan Rickman, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Brendan Gleeson, Charles Dance, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Ian Hart, Jean Kennedy Smith, Gary Whelan, Jer O'Leary, Ronan McCairbre, John Kenny, Michael Dwyer, Martin Murphy

  What It Gets Right: A straight-up biopic in the mold of Braveheart, Neil Jordan's 1996 film Michael Collins takes as its subject one of the most famous Irish revolutionaries of all time and depicts events that are ingrained in the Irish national consciousness. Among its most celebrated sequences is the scrupulously accurate depiction of the execution by firing squad of the leaders of the Easter Rising.

  Where It Falls Short: Michael Collins is one of the most fiercely debated movies on this list, with some contemporary writers accusing it of being an "event picture" that attempts to sweeten the facts. A writer for The Guardian takes issue with Neeson's casting, noting that Collins was 25 at the time, while Neeson was 44. This radically changes the tone of Collins's request that young men lay down their lives for Ireland.
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  (#12) Fifty Dead Men Walking

  • Rose McGowan, Ben Kingsley, Kevin Zegers, Jim Sturgess, William Houston, Michael McElhatton, Nick Dunning, Natalie Press, Gavin O'Connor, David Pearse, Gerard Jordan, Tom Collins, Joe Doyle

  What It Gets Right: Based on the autobiography of Martin McGartland, Fifty Dead Men Walking has perhaps the strongest base in reality of any film on this list. The 2008 film is intensely realistic in its treatment of an informer who rises through the ranks of the IRA. We see McGartland pressured into almost killing a supposed turncoat and see his handlers pressure him in a variety of ways. At the same time, we're given the high stakes and heartbreak of McGartland's confession that he was an informer the entire time.

  Where It Falls Short: An academic study on the film pointed out that while the movie is realistic, it isn't necessarily historically accurate. Many changes were made, which the film acknowledges. Names were changed, characters amalgamated, and key details elided to create the most effective film possible. Perhaps most problematic, McGartland's motivations for informing, which were intimately tied to the complex Irish politics of the time, are dramatically simplified.

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