ONE MANS FIGHT FOR TRUTH
ONE MAN'S FIGHT FOR TRUTH
By MIRROR REPORTER
A DENSE cloud of smoke hung heavily over Omagh, blanketing the devastation beneath.
The eerie silence seconds after the terrorist attack is punctuated by the screams of men, women and children.
It is a scene Michael Gallagher has relived every day in his mind since his son Aidan was killed in the bombing.
But nothing could have prepared him for the realism of the film Omagh. He said: "The detail of this movie is amazing, it is incredibly true to life. Everybody should watch this film if they want to know the truth. Every moment of anger, frustration and pain is caught with such realism.
"The passion and the emotion really comes through and it is not distasteful at all. It is a story that will strike a chord with anyone who's ever lost someone they love."
The film, shot mostly in Dublin and Navan, charts Michael's battle for answers and how he meets a wall of silence. It shows him on the verge of giving up after Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, played by Brenda Fricker, reveals Special Branch officers ignored information of an imminent attack on Omagh.
And in the film's most motional scene, he stands in front of the press with all energy sapped from his body. But a loving look from his wife Patsy spurs him to announce the victims' families' legal bid to sue five men over the atrocity.
Yesterday he said: "I may be physically knackered but we'll all continue to battle on - the film is inspirational.
"This is so much more than a movie, it records history. The world must know what really happened."
By MIRROR REPORTER
A DENSE cloud of smoke hung heavily over Omagh, blanketing the devastation beneath.
The eerie silence seconds after the terrorist attack is punctuated by the screams of men, women and children.
It is a scene Michael Gallagher has relived every day in his mind since his son Aidan was killed in the bombing.
But nothing could have prepared him for the realism of the film Omagh. He said: "The detail of this movie is amazing, it is incredibly true to life. Everybody should watch this film if they want to know the truth. Every moment of anger, frustration and pain is caught with such realism.
"The passion and the emotion really comes through and it is not distasteful at all. It is a story that will strike a chord with anyone who's ever lost someone they love."
The film, shot mostly in Dublin and Navan, charts Michael's battle for answers and how he meets a wall of silence. It shows him on the verge of giving up after Police Ombudsman Nuala O'Loan, played by Brenda Fricker, reveals Special Branch officers ignored information of an imminent attack on Omagh.
And in the film's most motional scene, he stands in front of the press with all energy sapped from his body. But a loving look from his wife Patsy spurs him to announce the victims' families' legal bid to sue five men over the atrocity.
Yesterday he said: "I may be physically knackered but we'll all continue to battle on - the film is inspirational.
"This is so much more than a movie, it records history. The world must know what really happened."
Further Information
Publisher: THE MIRROR
Ref: TM/211
Published Date: 10-May-04
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