FIVE MINUTES THAT CHANGED MY LIFE
Five minutes that changed my life, by Omagh film man
By BRENDA O'NEILL
OMAGH bomb film screenwriter, Paul Greengrass, has spoken of how he first became embroiled in Ulster politics, after a meeting with an IRA hunger striker.
The man behind the dramatisation of the 1998 blast, which left 29 people and unborn twins dead, says his 1980 documentary, on the Maze 'dirty protest', left a deep impression on him.
'Omagh' - shown last night, on RTE1 -is the latest docudrama by the English journalist, who was also responsible for 'Bloody Sunday', and 'The Murder Of Stephen Lawrence'.
However, it was his ITV World In Action film, in the H-Blocks, that provoked his interest in the Troubles.
"I can remember it vividly. You'd walk down this corridor with cell doors on either side, and the noise was quite unbelievable," said Greengrass.
"These men were like medieval hermits. They would stand there and look at you, with their blankets on, with their matted beards, and the s*** smeared (on the walls)."
Greengrass filmed Raymond McCartney - who'd gone 50 days without food - in the hospital wing. The footage would later be shown around the world.
"He was rotting - that's what it smelt like.
"They always kept food right next to him. Bread and butter, on a plate," he said.
"They said to me: 'You've got five minutes'. He was very lucid.
"I asked him about the families of the people he'd shot, and how he justified all that.
' "I remember he said: 'It all began for me on Bloody Sunday. I was there, when my cousin was shot in the back'."
Greengrass says he met McCartney - now an MLA - again, when he began work on the award-winning Bloody Sunday.
"There could be no meeting of minds in 1980 between us," he said.
"He was starving himself to death, and I was a young kid out of university ... and we had five minutes."
'Omagh' will be shown again on Thursday, on Channel 4.
By BRENDA O'NEILL
OMAGH bomb film screenwriter, Paul Greengrass, has spoken of how he first became embroiled in Ulster politics, after a meeting with an IRA hunger striker.
The man behind the dramatisation of the 1998 blast, which left 29 people and unborn twins dead, says his 1980 documentary, on the Maze 'dirty protest', left a deep impression on him.
'Omagh' - shown last night, on RTE1 -is the latest docudrama by the English journalist, who was also responsible for 'Bloody Sunday', and 'The Murder Of Stephen Lawrence'.
However, it was his ITV World In Action film, in the H-Blocks, that provoked his interest in the Troubles.
"I can remember it vividly. You'd walk down this corridor with cell doors on either side, and the noise was quite unbelievable," said Greengrass.
"These men were like medieval hermits. They would stand there and look at you, with their blankets on, with their matted beards, and the s*** smeared (on the walls)."
Greengrass filmed Raymond McCartney - who'd gone 50 days without food - in the hospital wing. The footage would later be shown around the world.
"He was rotting - that's what it smelt like.
"They always kept food right next to him. Bread and butter, on a plate," he said.
"They said to me: 'You've got five minutes'. He was very lucid.
"I asked him about the families of the people he'd shot, and how he justified all that.
' "I remember he said: 'It all began for me on Bloody Sunday. I was there, when my cousin was shot in the back'."
Greengrass says he met McCartney - now an MLA - again, when he began work on the award-winning Bloody Sunday.
"There could be no meeting of minds in 1980 between us," he said.
"He was starving himself to death, and I was a young kid out of university ... and we had five minutes."
'Omagh' will be shown again on Thursday, on Channel 4.
Further Information
Publisher: SUNDAY LIFE
Ref: SL/172
Published Date: 23-May-04
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