SHOCKINGLY GOOD FILM SPARKS NEW HOPE OF JAILING BOMBERS
Shockingly good film' sparks new hope of jailing bombers
Omagh horror screened
By Terry Patterson
THE premiere of 'Omagh', the dramatisation of the August 1998 town centre atrocity and its harrowing aftermath, has been dubbed the 'latest step in the fight for justice' by one of the members of the local victims group which attended its double screening at the Movie House on Belfast's Dublin Road on Sunday.
And Stanley McCombe, who lost his wife, Anne, when the Real IRA bomb claimed 31 lives, including those of unborn twins, on that gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon, said the film drove home the message that people cannot forget Omagh and that still others must not ever be allowed to forget it.
He explained: "It is my fervent hope that this film will advance the continuing struggle to jail the bombers by hitting someone, somewhere very hard indeed. Someone who possesses evidence and who might now feel that they have lived with their secret long enough.
"It will hopefully hit someone who will now be prepared to come forward, either by visiting a police station or by using the confidential telephone, with information that will lead to a prosecution and ultimately to a conviction, so that the people responsible are put behind bars for life to prevent something like this ever happening again."
Mr. McCombe said that most members of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, both from Omagh and Buncrana, had attended the premiere and that, while they found it hard to watch, they had all taken many positives from the screening.
"The families had been closely involved with the film crew and with everyone involved in the film from the beginning, especially helping with the research," he added.
"We worked particularly closely with co-producer, Don Mullan, and it was through him that the whole thing evolved. We were on the set and obviously we knew what was going to happen and what we expected to see on screen.
"But we did not know just how it would all be portrayed. In the event, it was all brilliantly done, including the build-up to the bombing, the arrival of the bomb car in Omagh and of course, the more than five years since.
'Hard to watch'
"It was very hard to watch, and it was also obviously difficult for the producers and writers to condense five and a half years into a little more than one-and-a-half hours, but they did an excellent job, from start to finish."
The film concentrates on Michael Gallagher, whose 21 -year-old son, Aiden, was killed in the bombing, and he too expressed his approval for the
dramatisation and the way the entire story had been depicted.
Mr. Gallagher is portrayed by Omagh actor, Gerard McSorley, and his son by another Omagh man, Paul Kelly, and Mr. Gallagher said he was delighted that a number of Northern Ireland actors had taken part.
"It's always much better when an actor doesn't have to depend on an accent which is foreign to him. That can normally be picked up by viewers," he went on. "The film was shockingly good, very, very powerful, and it put together a lot of the events which our victims group has been involved with in the intervening years.
"Where people out there in the wider community and, indeed, many in Omagh will have learned about the last five years or more through nothing much more than sound bites, this film will give them greater understanding of just what we have had to endure.
"People who only knew little bits and pieces of our story before now will see the entire history put together although, of course, the victims group has done much more than the film could ever hope to portray.
'White House'
"We have engaged nearly every government department in the United Kingdom and Ireland and many in the White House, too. And we have raised the profile of victims in general, people who were a one or two-day headline and then allowed to be forgotten, despite 35 horrific years.
"Terrorists have gained so much while the wider community suffered and continues to pay the price for it. I would like to think that our continued pursuit of the terrorists responsible for Omagh will by now have made them wish that they had never planted that bomb. Uniquely in the Troubles we have not allowed the terrorists to have the last word.
"And, if the film is seen by just one person who was intent on becoming involved with terrorism and learns of the pain and horror caused to so many families, and then has a change of heart, and turns his back on terrorism, it will all have been very worthwhile."
From its earliest moments the film builds sheer tension as the car containing the bomb is driven into place at Market Street and more and more
people congregate around it as the area around the Courthouse is evacuated.
The viewer is left feeling helpless to intervene as the detonation becomes imminent.
The naked savagery of the act and the panic, horror and pandemonium which follow are terrifyingly real, while the later coming together of the various victims families is not just as harmonious as might have been thought for those with a common cause.
But then the quiet voice of Michael Gallagher rises above it all, and he said this week: "This was a bomb planted in Omagh in a bid to divide the community, but what happened was the exact opposite.
"We united, people from different religions, different political backgrounds, put their differences to one side, and sent out a strong message that we will not tolerate innocent people being used to make a political point, and that we demanded some form of justice for our loved ones.
'Madrid'
"Unfortunately, we are still waiting, and that is in stark contrast to recent events in Spain. Within seven weeks of the Madrid bombing a statement was issued that all the perpetrators were either dead or in jail. So there is still much to be done with regards to Omagh. The film furthers our cause."
Award winning actress, Brenda Fricker's portrayal of Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan brings the film to a close with a powerful indictment of the RUC and its then chief, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, in a way the written word never did or could.
It explains the great feelings of frustration that group at one stage they were basically told to go away, that they were hindering the Peace Process - and why the fight for justice must go on, despite the heart-breaking and, at times, gut wrenching strain on the families and family life.
One of the bereaved who did not attend the screening was Kevin Skelton, whose wife, Philomena died in the bombing. A daughter was also injured.
He said: "I was invited to attend but just felt that I could not sit through a graphic production of something which I had experienced so vividly in real life.
"I fully support the people who did attend, and supported and co-operated with the making of the film and backed all the other families who contributed to its content.
"But watching the film was not for me. I have been provided with a video copy that I can watch in my own home in my own time. I don't know whether I will ever be able to sit down and view it or not, but at least I will have the option of switching it off."
A joint production by the UK-based Tiger Aspect and Irish producers, Hell's Kitchen International, the film funded by Channel 4, RTE and the Irish Film Board is to be televised on RTE on Saturday week and on Channel 4 the following Thursday, May 27.
Omagh horror screened
By Terry Patterson
THE premiere of 'Omagh', the dramatisation of the August 1998 town centre atrocity and its harrowing aftermath, has been dubbed the 'latest step in the fight for justice' by one of the members of the local victims group which attended its double screening at the Movie House on Belfast's Dublin Road on Sunday.
And Stanley McCombe, who lost his wife, Anne, when the Real IRA bomb claimed 31 lives, including those of unborn twins, on that gloriously sunny Saturday afternoon, said the film drove home the message that people cannot forget Omagh and that still others must not ever be allowed to forget it.
He explained: "It is my fervent hope that this film will advance the continuing struggle to jail the bombers by hitting someone, somewhere very hard indeed. Someone who possesses evidence and who might now feel that they have lived with their secret long enough.
"It will hopefully hit someone who will now be prepared to come forward, either by visiting a police station or by using the confidential telephone, with information that will lead to a prosecution and ultimately to a conviction, so that the people responsible are put behind bars for life to prevent something like this ever happening again."
Mr. McCombe said that most members of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, both from Omagh and Buncrana, had attended the premiere and that, while they found it hard to watch, they had all taken many positives from the screening.
"The families had been closely involved with the film crew and with everyone involved in the film from the beginning, especially helping with the research," he added.
"We worked particularly closely with co-producer, Don Mullan, and it was through him that the whole thing evolved. We were on the set and obviously we knew what was going to happen and what we expected to see on screen.
"But we did not know just how it would all be portrayed. In the event, it was all brilliantly done, including the build-up to the bombing, the arrival of the bomb car in Omagh and of course, the more than five years since.
'Hard to watch'
"It was very hard to watch, and it was also obviously difficult for the producers and writers to condense five and a half years into a little more than one-and-a-half hours, but they did an excellent job, from start to finish."
The film concentrates on Michael Gallagher, whose 21 -year-old son, Aiden, was killed in the bombing, and he too expressed his approval for the
dramatisation and the way the entire story had been depicted.
Mr. Gallagher is portrayed by Omagh actor, Gerard McSorley, and his son by another Omagh man, Paul Kelly, and Mr. Gallagher said he was delighted that a number of Northern Ireland actors had taken part.
"It's always much better when an actor doesn't have to depend on an accent which is foreign to him. That can normally be picked up by viewers," he went on. "The film was shockingly good, very, very powerful, and it put together a lot of the events which our victims group has been involved with in the intervening years.
"Where people out there in the wider community and, indeed, many in Omagh will have learned about the last five years or more through nothing much more than sound bites, this film will give them greater understanding of just what we have had to endure.
"People who only knew little bits and pieces of our story before now will see the entire history put together although, of course, the victims group has done much more than the film could ever hope to portray.
'White House'
"We have engaged nearly every government department in the United Kingdom and Ireland and many in the White House, too. And we have raised the profile of victims in general, people who were a one or two-day headline and then allowed to be forgotten, despite 35 horrific years.
"Terrorists have gained so much while the wider community suffered and continues to pay the price for it. I would like to think that our continued pursuit of the terrorists responsible for Omagh will by now have made them wish that they had never planted that bomb. Uniquely in the Troubles we have not allowed the terrorists to have the last word.
"And, if the film is seen by just one person who was intent on becoming involved with terrorism and learns of the pain and horror caused to so many families, and then has a change of heart, and turns his back on terrorism, it will all have been very worthwhile."
From its earliest moments the film builds sheer tension as the car containing the bomb is driven into place at Market Street and more and more
people congregate around it as the area around the Courthouse is evacuated.
The viewer is left feeling helpless to intervene as the detonation becomes imminent.
The naked savagery of the act and the panic, horror and pandemonium which follow are terrifyingly real, while the later coming together of the various victims families is not just as harmonious as might have been thought for those with a common cause.
But then the quiet voice of Michael Gallagher rises above it all, and he said this week: "This was a bomb planted in Omagh in a bid to divide the community, but what happened was the exact opposite.
"We united, people from different religions, different political backgrounds, put their differences to one side, and sent out a strong message that we will not tolerate innocent people being used to make a political point, and that we demanded some form of justice for our loved ones.
'Madrid'
"Unfortunately, we are still waiting, and that is in stark contrast to recent events in Spain. Within seven weeks of the Madrid bombing a statement was issued that all the perpetrators were either dead or in jail. So there is still much to be done with regards to Omagh. The film furthers our cause."
Award winning actress, Brenda Fricker's portrayal of Police Ombudsman, Nuala O'Loan brings the film to a close with a powerful indictment of the RUC and its then chief, Sir Ronnie Flanagan, in a way the written word never did or could.
It explains the great feelings of frustration that group at one stage they were basically told to go away, that they were hindering the Peace Process - and why the fight for justice must go on, despite the heart-breaking and, at times, gut wrenching strain on the families and family life.
One of the bereaved who did not attend the screening was Kevin Skelton, whose wife, Philomena died in the bombing. A daughter was also injured.
He said: "I was invited to attend but just felt that I could not sit through a graphic production of something which I had experienced so vividly in real life.
"I fully support the people who did attend, and supported and co-operated with the making of the film and backed all the other families who contributed to its content.
"But watching the film was not for me. I have been provided with a video copy that I can watch in my own home in my own time. I don't know whether I will ever be able to sit down and view it or not, but at least I will have the option of switching it off."
A joint production by the UK-based Tiger Aspect and Irish producers, Hell's Kitchen International, the film funded by Channel 4, RTE and the Irish Film Board is to be televised on RTE on Saturday week and on Channel 4 the following Thursday, May 27.
Further Information
Publisher: TYRONE CONSTITUTION
Ref: TC/1696
Published Date: 13-May-04
Related Images
