Young rioters in Belfast in support of the Irish Republican hunger striker Bobby Sands in 1981 Photo: Peter Marlow / Magnum PhotosThe “Troubles” that beset Northern Ireland for three decades have hardly been neglected by TV and movies over the years, so encountering the five-part “Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland” on PBS might raise a question about timing.
This year does mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement, which was signed in 1998, but the peace has never been easy, not enough to risk old wounds being reopened.
But the answer to “Why right now?” becomes obvious fairly early in the series, “right now” being the only time this particular study could have been done.
Persons:
Bobby Sands, Peter Marlow
Organizations:
Republican, Northern Ireland ”, PBS
Locations:
Belfast, Northern Ireland