‘71 is a British movie released in 2014 and directed by Yann Demange. The Action Thriller was shot mostly in Northern England but depicting Belfast, the capital of Northern Ireland in the year 1971, during the Northern Ireland conflicts, also known as The Troubles.

The Troubles

I will talk further in more detail about The Troubles in a review already planned for the future, but for now, making it simple, it was a conflict between the Catholic Irish Nationalists and the Protestant British Unionists. This conflict happened mainly in Northern Ireland but sometimes spread to the Republic of Ireland and England.

Now let’s go straight to the movie.

’71

Gary Hook, played by Jack O’Connell, is a British soldier in his first mission, providing support for the Irish police forces during a violent search for guns.

The police virulence results in the gathering of locals, protesting against their brutality. During the altercation between British soldiers and the local folk, Hook is separated from the troops and end up being left in the streets of Belfast.

Alone and in a hostile environment, the young soldier has to struggle to find his way back to safety.

‘71 is a very solid movie, where we can clearly see the three acts structure, simple and straight to the point. With a good plot, great cast and performances all put together by the director’s ability.

One of the reasons I became interested in this movie was the cast. It seemed like everyone I was checking on IMDb was in this movie, like Valene Kane, Sean Harris, David Wilmot, and the great actor Barry Keoghan.

Unfortunately, Keoghan’s participation in this movie is minor, so there isn’t much to see from him.

However, even having a respectable solidity and quality, it lacked something to make it remarkable, to go a degree higher. It is not mediocre or anything like that, it’s good enough, but just it.

‘71 is the type of movie that you watch it, you like it and then you forget about it, and only remember very occasionally, in specific moments, like when you see some of the actors in another movie or series.

For example, every time I see Valene Kane in a movie I going to think “Oh yeah, she got slapped in the face in that movie”, and then, less than five minutes later I will forget the film again.

I recognize all the good things the movie has, and it’s just not remarkable enough to me so, I will give it 7 Moons.