The Patriot Game

By denying the premise of the British media's treatment of Ulster as an insoluble religious conflict, Mac Caig's documentary restores a historical and political context to Republican struggle for a united, socialist Ireland. Unashamedly propagandist, it gives a coherent voice to the Provisionals, and re-runs the TV headlines of the past eleven years to frame rare scenes of contemporary life in the nationalist ghettos. Not only does it succinctly analyse the roots of the 'troubles' (Britain's economic and military oppression) and offer a rationale for Republican strategy (from the Civil Rights movement to IRA bombing campaigns), but it presents a 'hidden', and in many ways inspirational, portrait of life under occupation, of a besieged but organised working class, and of pervasive grass roots resistance.