|
Bernadette: Notes on a Political Journey
| Released |
18 November 2011 |
| Director |
Lelia Doolan |
| Starring |
Bernadette Devlin McAliskey |
| Producer(s) |
Lelia Doolan |
| Origin |
Ireland |
| Running Time |
88 minutes |
| Genre |
Documentary |
| Rating |
TBC |
|
|
An outspoken voice.
Winner of the Best Feature Documentary prize at this year's Galway Film Fleadh, Lelia Doolan's film examines the fascinating life of Bernadette Devlin McAliskey. For those of a certain age, McAliskey is certainly a polarising figure who inspires love and hate in equal measure depending on what side of the political argument you reside on. For a younger audience who may never have heard of her it tells the story of her life and her role in the early days of the ‘troubles’ in Northern Ireland.
The story begins in 1969 as a twenty-one year old student McAliskey is elected as the youngest ever M.P. to the British parliament. At the time of the ‘Battle of the Bogside’ in Derry she was one of the main organisers of the public resistance, something that’s captured in some remarkably candid footage. The film acknowledges a debt to John Goldschmidt's 1969 TV documentary Bernadette Devlin for this early archive material. The footage of the young firebrand and 'speechifier' (her own term) is contrasted with a number of more reflective interviews with Doolan and the older McAliskey over the last decade.
McAliskey was imprisoned for her activities in Derry but she returned in time for ‘Bloody Sunday’ when thirteen civilians were shot dead by the British Army. When only a few days afterwards, then British Home Secretary Reginald Maudling claimed in the House of Commons that the army had only fired in self-defence, McAliskey crossed the floor of the house to punch him. This got her a ban from parliament but she remains unrepentant, sorry that ‘she didn’t hit him harder’.
McAliskey broke away from Official Sinn Féin to form her own socialist party but eventually left after falling out with the leadership over the relationship with the INLA. She went quiet then until the early ‘80s when the H-Block Hunger Strikes started. As one of the leading members of the ‘Smash H Block’ campaign she was targeted by the U.D.A. and was shot seven times in an assassination attempt but remarkably survived. Since then she’s mainly only surfaced as an outspoken critic of the current peace process and the role played by the current Sinn Féin leadership.
The big problem with this documentary is that it’s all told from McAliskey’s point of view. There’s no one else interviewed who could give some perspective on her role, whether positive or negative. It means that the documentary lacks depth. An example is a newspaper headline flashing by where McAliskey declares her support for the IRA. However Doolan never sees fit to ask her to explain this position or indeed to ask any uncomfortable questions at all. So what we’re left with is McAliskey going on like the Japanese soldier still fighting the war about the Socialist republic she still wants.
Still the early footage is worth viewing, especially for younger viewers who may not have seen it before. However, it still feels like an opportunity lost and that a more objective filmmaker would have produced a more balanced and revealing portrait of a polarising character.
- Jim O’Connor |
