I, Dolours

Here is a hypnotic, troubling study of a key agent in the Troubles. Maurice Sweeney’s picture, constructed around a lengthy interview between veteran journalist Ed Moloney and the late IRA volunteer Dolours Price, confirms the subject as a fiercely articulate woman with a chilling certainty of purpose.

I, Dolours does more. In charting Price’s journey from civil rights activist to convicted bomber to peace process sceptic, it offers an efficient history of the entire conflict.

Price was actually on the 1969 People’s Democracy march that notoriously ended at Burntollet Bridge with loyalists attacking while security forces refused to intervene. Like many others in the movement, she sees that as the turning point. 'I’m never going to convince these people,' she remembers thinking.

This is among the most impressive interviews ever immortalised in a feature documentary. The story of her childhood nursing an aunt wounded handling explosives - blind and without hands - is chilling enough to demand attention. A sentimental part of the brain wonders what this icily intelligent woman could have achieved in different circumstances.

'Of all the films that have been made about the IRA in recent years, this is by far the most powerful, honest and disturbing.' Suzanne Breen, Belfast Telegraph

'This is, by some distance, the most disturbing film of the year. It is also one of the best.' Harry Guerin, RTE.ie

Distributor: Element Pictures