Prophetic Troubles film ‘horrific’ to watch 50 years after it was made
Posted by Jim on December 1, 2022
Nine people from Belfast shared their painful experiences and reached a consensus during a remarkable project — but their solution took decades to take hold, laments a Belfast-born psychotherapist
The aftermath of an explosion in Belfast on Bloody Friday in July 1972
December 01 2022 06:00 AM
It’s been 50 years since a group of working class people from Belfast were flown to America at the height of the Troubles to take part in the ground-breaking documentary ‘Steel Shutter’.
A conference is taking place in the Europa Hotel on Thursday to revisit the extraordinary peace initiative which allowed nine men and women from both communities a chance to sit down and talk for the first time since the conflict began.
Dr Michael Montgomery, who founded the organisation Peace Fire, which is behind the event, admits it is uncomfortable viewing to see what was achieved in the painful exchanges.
“It’s horrific when you watch it back and realise the consensus they reached,” he said.
“There was the genesis of a solution by the end of the interaction. But it took decades to manifest.”
ADVERTISING
Dr Michael Montgomery, psychotherapist and founder of the organisation Peace Fire
The 1972 film, recorded over three days in Philadelphia, captured participants, including the late Shelter NI founder Barney Filor, as they came to the realisation that they were more alike than they thought.
Tom Donnelly was among those who shared their own harrowing experiences of the early conflict and was visibly upset as he described the pain of losing his sister Margaret O’Hare.
The 34-year-old was one of three people killed in an IRA bomb close to shops on Cavehill Road in Belfast on July 21, 1972.
“Is my mum dead, is my mum dead?” Mr Donnelly recalled being asked by his niece. He had to stall the entire day until he could make contact with her dad who was away on business.
Tom Donnelly in the documentary
Mr Donnelly also opened up about the pain of ignoring questions from his four-year-old son, who noted that “you never take me over to aunt Margaret’s any more” in the dark days that followed.
“When she came into a room it was like turning on a light,” he told other group members.
“That light was snuffed out.”
Meanwhile, Mr Filor recalled being evacuated from the Albert Bridge on the same day and seeing Catholics across the river “cheer” after the first of 22 bombs detonated across the city.
“They were lined up waiting for it,” he said.
Barney Filor in the documentary
Dr Montgomery said it is still powerful to watch the men and women from different walks of life begin to let their guard down.
“Brian talks about seeing two policemen being killed and no one acknowledges what he is saying,” he said.
“Tom talks about his sister being killed.
“Collectively they explain why they needed to pull the steel shutter down in order to survive conflict.
“And then the film moves on towards the end when they reach agreement.” The film records key moments when all nine participants realise that housing problems and inequality blight poor Protestant communities as much as Catholic areas. It captures bonds being forged over the shared tragedy of a generation of young adults being forced to flee their home country to escape the carnage. But most of all, it shows that raw honesty about feelings of fear, plain terror, vengeance, hopelessness and despair has the ability to bring people together.
The film also captures a prophetic warning that the senseless bloodshed would continue as long as political wings of terror gangs were ostracised from public life.
Protestant father Brian can be seen expressing concerns about his eight-year-old son “playing violent games” and growing up to join a loyalist paramilitary group.
Meanwhile, Catholic mother Peggy shared identical fears that her children would be enticed “to get their own back” one day. “That bitterness is just going to keep ebbing away at those kids and eventually they could become IRA men,” she said.
The seeds of a solution were sown by a man called Sean, who claimed the actions of the British Army in Northern Ireland “make Vietnam look like a kindergarten”.
He passionately railed against a colonel’s call — made in a national newspaper at the time — for the IRA to surrender.
“They haven’t a snowball’s chance in hell of us giving up our gunmen,” he warned. “Unless they stop harassing Catholics.”
Dr Montgomery, originally from Belfast but who now lives near Boston, described the last sentence as chilling with the benefit of hindsight.
“We’ll give up our gunmen if you stop harassing Catholics,” he said.
“That was the solution, but they had to make a connection to find it.
“You see gunmen don’t have a personal connection with the people they murder – they just pulled the trigger and that was it.”
The psychotherapist also warned that everyone becomes bound and blinded when they pursue tribalism for a sense of identity which ultimately results in polarisation.
“If you think morally ‘this is my tribe’ then that’s a very bonding experience and until people are lifted out of that it’s difficult,” he said.
“That’s what was so interesting about Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness.
“There was so much humanity in that relationship and there’s a real lack of that generosity in peace-building and politics today.” Dr Montgomery believes social media is a toxic force in the modern world and often distorts what could otherwise be a meaningful connection in real life.
He is convinced the antidote lies in the concepts of renowned psychologist Carl Rogers who was central to the five decades-old film, which also involved Oscar winner Bill McGaw.
“History repeats itself because people don’t realise how bad it was in the past,” he warned.
“People can romanticise these things because they are not connected with the consequences and what it was really like.
“But the people taking part in this project realised they had their guards up because it’s what they needed to do to stop going insane.
“Once they acted on commonality, their defences came down a little bit.”
The conference will reflect on what was achieved 50 years ago and explore weighty themes including forgiveness, ethics and the “very messy” work of reconciliation.
The aim is to engage with a range of stakeholders of all ages who have a particular interest in peace-building, education, conflict resolution, trauma, psychotherapy/counselling, and legacy studies. Delegates will have the chance to reflect on the themes that ran through the film and listen to expert speakers trying to make sense of the past and take stock of the present.
The film also exposed a sense of resentment over working people’s reliance on middle class politicians.
There was a shared perception that they were “divorced from reality of the Troubles” and a sense of frustration over the fear people had of speaking out.
“The middle class are the people who originated this trouble, but the working class suffer,” one man said.
Dr Montgomery believes more authentic conversations are needed in politics today to refresh a peace process that has gone stale. “I think there’s been a loss of creativity, risk taking and connectivity,” he said.
“I work with prisoners and people who have done horrendous things — this approach works. The rise of cognitive psychology means people are thinking their feelings and not experiencing the emotional depth of their pain and trauma.
“I believe if you got ex-IRA men and ex-UDA men in the same room they would have real empathy for one another because they know exactly what each other went through.
“They all know what life is like behind the steel shutter.”