Review: '71

The Troubles have been depicted in various films such as Cal, In the Name of the Father, Hunger, and Bloody Sunday. Now we have '71, a highly auspicious debut from acclaimed television director Yann Demange (Top Boy, Criminal Justice) that uses the political turmoil to execute a taut survival thriller.

Private Gary Hook (Jack O'Connell) is the film's focal point; he and his regiment have been ordered to Belfast to serve as backup for the local police force, the RUC, who are conducting a door-to-door search for guns in a Catholic neighbourhood. Their debriefing outlines the volatile lay of the land: there are the friendly Protestant Loyalists and the Catholic Nationalists, both sides with paramilitary factions; within the Republic, there's a split between the older IRA elements and the younger, more radical streetfighters.

The house raid goes terrifyingly pear-shaped as the already agitated mob rush the police and soldiers, pelting them with rocks and forcing them into a hasty retreat. The riot is frightening in its build-up, a thoroughly confused situation that finds Hook and fellow soldier Thommo (Jack Lowden) accidentally stranded and unarmed. Thommo is soon shot dead, leaving Hook completely alone as he flees from two IRA youths, dodging bullets as they chase him through the narrow backstreets in a breathlessly thrilling sequence.

The film pauses long enough to assess our lad's situation - he needs to somehow find his way back to the British Army without being captured by either side of the IRA and the Military Reaction Force, the British Army's covert intelligence branch who seem to be working both sides. There are complicated internal politics at hand, which only emphasise the danger in which Hook finds himself as he tries to stay alive through the night. Even his encounters with those willing to help him are fraught with tension: the funny and foulmouthed nine-year-old (Corey McKinley) whose family is connected to the Protestant paramilitary and a Catholic father and daughter (Richard Dormer and Charlie Murphy), who patch up his wound and fret over which side of the IRA they should give him over to - old guard Boyle (David Wilmot) or the young, trigger-happy Quinn (Killian Scott).

There's nary a weak link in sight. O'Connell displays both a grit and vulnerability, never losing sight of the scared child within the determined man. Demange and his crew succeed in bringing 1971 Belfast to vivid life. The concluding showdown in an abandoned tower block is pulse-pounding. Beautifully lensed - the nighttime sequences are particularly surreal - '71 is a sinewy thriller and a gripping drama that heralds promising futures for both director and star.

'71

Directed by: Yann Demange

Written by: Gregory Burke

Starring: Jack O'Connell, Sam Reid, David Wilmot, Richard Dormer, Charlie Murphy