'71 MOVIE INFO AND THE STORYLINE

'71 MOVIE INFO

   '71 is a British historical action film set in Northern Ireland during those early years of bloody conflict between the loyalists protestant and nationalists catholics  known as 'The Troubles'. It tells the story of a British soldier who becomes separated from his unit during a riot in Belfast at the height of the Troubles in 1971.The Filming began on location in Blackburn, Lancashire and continued in Liverpool and Sheffield. The film was funded by the Creative Scotland, Screen Yorkshire, Film4 and British Film Institute.
Powerfully acted and directed, '71 stays true to its fact-based origins.

The movie is quite honest in what it wants to be, and the narrative because of it flows consistently in the right direction.

'71 a tense thriller from Britain that so adroitly joins political acuity, physical intensity and emotional authenticity that you may find yourself forgetting to take a breath.

Jack O'Connell runs away with 71, in which his character's every  physical, emotional and psychological hurdle makes for kinetic cinema.

          Winners of 7 Awards And 21 Nominations

. Athens International Film Festival 2014
Won
Golden Athena Best Picture

. Berlin International Film Festival 2014
Won
Prize of the Ecumenical Jury - Special Mention Competition

. British Independent Film Awards 2014
Won
British Independent Film Award for Best Director
Best British Independent Film
Best Screenplay
Best Actor

. London Critics Circle Film Awards 2015
Won
ALFS Award Breakthrough British Filmmaker

. Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards 2014
Won
Breakthrough Award    Jack O'Connell
For Starred Up and Unbroken

. London Critics Circle Film Awards 2015
Won
ALFS Award Breakthrough British Filmmaker

. Munich Film Festival 2014
Won
Bernhard Wicki Film Award Best New Director

. Philadelphia Film Festival 2014
Won
Narrative Award Best Director Prize

Cast:

Jack O'Connell as Gary Hook
Richard Dormer as Eamon
Jack Lowden as Thompson ("Thommo")
Charlie Murphy as Brigid
David Wilmot as Boyle
Sean Harris as Captain Sandy Browning
Killian Scott as James Quinn
Sam Reid as Lt. Armitage
Barry Keoghan as Sean
Paul Anderson as Sergeant Leslie Lewis
Martin McCann as Paul Haggerty
Babou Ceesay as Corporal
Corey McKinley as Loyalist child
Paul Popplewell as Training Co

THE STORYLINE

   Lead character Gary Hook (Jack O'Connell) plays part of a new regiment  to the British Army, was a teenaged orphan with a kid brother Darren (Harry Verity) still in the bleak children’s home where he himself grew up. He takes leave of his much younger brother. Military service, it seems, is his only route to self-sufficiency. Expecting a cushier first assignment, Gary's squad of British soldiers are surprised to be deployed immediately for emergency peacekeeping  situation caused by IRA terrorism in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The city is divided violently between sides and faiths; the pro UK side is predominantly Protestant Loyalists, and the pro independence side is predominantly Catholic Nationalists which belongs to the Irish Republican Army (IRA). After years of fighting during these early years of what they call The Troubles in 1971, the IRA sees ruptures within its ranks, between the more violent younger IRA faction  and the more complacent seniors IRA faction.

   Under the leadership of the inexperienced Lieutenant Armitage (Sam Reid), his squad goes to a volatile area of Belfast where Catholic Nationalists  and Protestant Loyalists live side by side. The unit provides support for the local constabulary Royal Ulster Constabulary (RUC) to assist in a search for suspected illegal weapons. As RUC inspects homes for suspected illegal weapons in the Catholics' side of town very near the border line , shocking Gary with their rough treatment of women and children.
   The Catholic neighbourhood has been alerted to the activity and a crowd gathers protesting and provoking the British troops, though heavily armed, can't respond other than trying to hold the crowd back. While maintaining the ranks under heavy rioting masses, Gary's regiment, under the command of Lieutenant Armitage (Sam Reid) is quickly bombarded with urine and pooh followed by violent riots until a soldier is hit by a stone, then a kid picks up his rifle. Armitage sends Gary and another soldier to pursue the boy but some men chase after them and beat them senselessly. As the crowd's protest escalates into rock-throwing, the soldiers and police pull out, unwittingly leaving the two soldiers behind.

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Gary and the other soldier are briefly rescued by a sympathetic woman who tries without success to hold back a small crowd who are beating them.Two young IRA members Paul and Sean come by them and Gary  sees his fellow soldier shot dead at point blank range by the young Nationalist Paul Haggerty (McCann). When Sean (Keoghan) hesitates to shoot, Gary runs away from them and then flees through streets and back alleys. Then finally eluding his pursuers by escaping into an alley.and hiding until dark.

    At nightfall, Gary sneaks out of hiding and finds that he's on the Protestants' side of Belfast. A Protestant youngster (McKinley) brings Gary to a local pub. In there Gary takes notice of a planned bomb attack on the catholics under the guidance of the Military Reaction Force (MRF), the covert counter-insurgency unit of the British Army and MRF Sergeant Leslie Lewis (Paul Anderson) seems to be involved in this. The owner of  pub demands his dog tags as proof that he's the missing soldier and gives them to Lewis. Gary was ordered to stay at the pub, while Lewis leaves the place. Gary accidentally goes out of the pub just seconds before an enormous explosion destroys and decimates the pub and injures him too. He suspected that Lewis is a double agent who works for the IRA.
   Gary flees once more into the dark streets.With that incident, each of the two IRA factions charges the other with responsibility for the bombing. Gary is discovered lying unconscious in the street by Eamon (Dormer) and his daughter Brigid (Murphy) both of Catholics origin. They take him to their apartment and despite the fact that they knew that he is a British soldier, Eamon stitches his wounds.Not wanting to risk their own lives bringing Gary to the hospital, Eamon calls a senior IRA official Boyle instead,expecting a more humane solution than the younger IRA faction would allow. Less radical and less violent than younger IRA members, Boyle who then comes to get the soldier. Boyle has a working relationship with the MRF. He tells MRF Captain Browning (Harris), leader of the British MRF unit, of Gary's whereabouts and asks in return that Browning assassinate James Quinn (Scott), a key leader of the younger IRA faction. He offers the soldier for Quinn's murder in return. Quinn and his IRA squad have been tailing Boyle since the pub explosion and saw him visit Eamon's apartment without knowing why he was there. Sensing danger, Gary  flees the apartment, bringing with him a sheathed razor sharp edge. Moving painfully through the apartment complex stairways and halls, he evades the IRA men who have separated to search for him. Once finding an open apartment door and encountering a little girl who watches him with a curious look as he signals for her to keep quiet.He hides when he can,but finally came when unable to get away from the IRA member Haggerty who is about to come around a corner and discover him, Gary stabs him.

As the wounded man lies dying, Gary reaches down and grasps his arms, sharing sympathy and strength as they hold each other's gaze and the IRA man dies. But Gary then gets captured by Quinn after Sean again hesitates in shooting him. Quinn's group  takes Gary to a hideout where Quinn orders Sean, a young teen whom Quinn has been recruiting, to execute Gary. As Sean hesitates and lowers his gun, Quinn prepares to execute Gary.

   Browning's group arrives and Lewis, to Gary's horror, shoots Sean. Lewis attempts to strangle Gary to prevent him from informing others of the bomb from earlier and make sure that he cannot reveal his identity as a double agent. As Lieutenant Armitage and his men enter in support of Browning, Armitage sees Lewis attempting to kill Gary. Sean surviving Lewis's shot, raises himself and fires at Lewis before being shot by Armitage.

    Captain Browning has Quinn in his sights and rather than arrest him lets him go, saying Quinn, that he's in great trouble that Boyle wants him dead and needs to deal with Boyle.Telling him we can work together, i'm a reasonable man and promises to contact him soon. Gary returns to his barracks. Later on, the officer in charge dismisses the case between Gary, Lewis and Sean as a confused situation that merits no further inquiry. Gary returns to England and reunites with Darren.