The level of accomplishment in the filmmaking is overwhelming.
90
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
A scrupulously even-handed account, free of ideological or tribal partisanship, based on eyewitness accounts by survivors and the anonymous "Paras" themselves.
Surges forward with barely a respite. It's like watching a propane factory burn, waiting for the tanks inside to explode, and when they do, we're right in the middle of it.
88
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The film is conducted in a delirious cinema-verite style; most of what you see has a brutal, you-are-there immediacy. You're not merely watching history, you're engulfed by it.
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
One view of what happened that day, a very effective one. And as an act of filmmaking, it is superb: A sense of immediate and present reality permeates every scene.
83
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
Seattle Post-IntelligencerWilliam Arnold
There's no denying the skill and flair with which director Paul Greengrass has restaged this unhappy event, creating an uncanny sense of immediacy and allowing us to be a fly on the wall at a seminal '70s tragedy.
75
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
What Bloody Sunday lacks in clarity, it makes up for with a great, fiery passion.