Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland

Growing up in 80s in Dublin this was just something that was happening on the news. This brought the reality home to me for the first time. Two hours up the road was so far away back then. This is possibly the most important thing I have ever watched on tv. Mind blowing insight into the ordinary peoples lives at the time. I knew all of these story's but not like this. The emotion of the people talking about the time and the journeys they have been on are incredible. This should be shown to kids all over the world to show how division in a community can bring such hate and murder to the most ordinary of people.

I was born in the 70s and grew up as a child in the 80s in the United States. I am an American of primarily Northern Irish (and British) ancestry, and when hearing news stories about bombings and violence I remember thinking how horrible these people who could have easily been my family if they had stayed. But I was a kid it was across the pond so whatever so I forgot five minutes after heading the news story.

I thought the approach to the film, a 5 part series of slow interviews, was a snooze fest at first. But as you watch the series, you realize how the Troubles went from isolated events that didn't register to families and communities being torn apart. It really builds and drives home the point that these were just ordinary people.

Really enjoyed this and learned a lot.

Terrascotia has taken the trouble in this forum to make a strong argument against this series. I respect that person's point of view but I profoundly disagree with those conclusions.

My wife and I finished watching the series last night and we have both urged our children and others to watch it. We are both 69 years old and lived through the events in Belfast and in Derry.

I never felt that watching this was providing vicarious thrills. Rather I felt that this format presented vividly the experiences of individuals from different traditions in ways which seemed very fresh and honest. There was no attempt to provide a detailed history - this was done very well in the Spotlight series - here it was all about what the Troubles really meant to different people at the time and in retrospect. Some of it was very difficult to listen to but so worthwhile.

Making it about individuals, not just 'sides'. I was grateful for this timely reminder of how awful things were / still are in some ways and especially for giving a voice to victims who tend to be conveniently forgotten in the rush to garner votes.

I was growing up during the time of The Troubles, but I live in America, and I am not Irish, so while I was aware of all of this going on, the immediacy was never there. Also, being an American, there are not a lot of things out there to watch and learn more about The Troubles. Maybe this documentary just barely scratches the surface for some, but for me, it was a very educational experience.

As others have noted, I was also taken aback (but in a good way) at the rawness, authenticity, honesty and the ability to self-reflect of most of the people in this documentary, both Catholics and Protestants alike who discussed their experiences. To me, this was as balanced and down-the-middle as humanly possible, and I also appreciated that very much.

This is one of the best documentaries I have seen on just about any subject. However, I know this subject well, so I can confirm the stories are true. They are told from the perspective of those who experienced the events, and told with incredible honesty. Even when I disagreed fundamentally with the perspective, I still found myself convinced of the honesty of the storyteller.

My only niggling concern was the lack of a detailed explanation on how Northern Ireland came about - British imperialism. The UK is to Ireland what Russia is to the Ukraine...400 years after the invasion.

To this day England does not understand Ireland. To this day England has a sense of right to be in a country not made by human maps, but by geography itself - it is a separate island, with a native people. In this documentary the Irish are still being referred to as 'terrorists' by the same people who are currently supplying ammunition to the Ukrainian fight for sovereignty. Contradiction???