Omagh

On Saturday 15th August 1998, a car bomb exploded on Market Street in Omagh, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It killed 31 people. 'Omagh' tells the story of that tragic day.

Like Bloody Sunday, Omagh is an Anglo / Irish collaboration. The project was developed by UK based Tiger Aspect (Billy Elliot, Murder, Teachers) and co-produced with Irish based Hell's Kitchen International (In The Name of the Father, In America, The Boxer). It is produced by Ed Guiney of Hell's Kitchen International and Paul Greengrass, and co-produced by his collaborator on Bloody Sunday, Don Mullan (author of Eyewitness Bloody Sunday). Greg Brenman (Tiger Aspect) and Andrew Lowe and Arthur Lappin (Hell's Kitchen International) are executive producers. Omagh is funded by Channel 4, RTÉ and the Irish Film Board.

The cast was drawn from all parts of Ireland, north and south of the border, and includes Omagh's most distinguished actor Gerard McSorley, re-united with Greengrass after his role in Bloody Sunday and last seen on screen in Joel Schumacher's film Veronica Guerin. McSorley plays Michael Gallagher.

'Omagh has been the result of nearly three years of research and consultation with the Omagh Support and Self Help Group. We hope we have done justice to their brave and remarkable campaign by telling their story,' says producer Ed Guiney.

Channel 4's Head of Drama, John Yorke: 'This is a hugely exciting landmark production for Channel 4, reflecting our belief in drama's ability to ask powerful and provocative political questions. It tells the story from the families' point of view, portraying their personal battle for justice. The drama will act as a bookend to Paul Greengrass' humane and pertinent examination of the Irish situation.'

Mary Callery, Commissioning Editor, RTÉ Television: 'This is a powerful story of bravery and optimism in the face of devastating human tragedy. We hope that by going behind the headlines, this film brings to a wide audience a greater understanding and insight into the struggles of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group. It is an extraordinary story about ordinary people and what they have achieved against the odds.'

Making a film about the Omagh atrocity was never going to be an easy task. Sensitivities are raw; for some it's too soon; there are the inevitable conflicting viewpoints. And above all, there are the unresolved truths about what happened and whether it could have been avoided. But throughout the last five years, a group of families - the Omagh Support and Self Help Group - have been pursuing a patient, determined, indomitable campaign to bring those responsible for the bomb to justice, and to hold to account politicians and police on both sides of the border who promised so much in the immediate aftermath of the atrocity but who in the families' eyes have delivered all too little.

This public campaign - the families' ongoing struggle to be acknowledged and heard - is the one consistent thread that runs throughout the past five years and it is the basis of this film and the source of its legitimacy.

Paul Greengrass first made contact with Michael Gallagher and the Omagh Support and Self Help Group nearly three years ago as he was completing Bloody Sunday. 'There are two events that frame the Troubles: one was Bloody Sunday - the moment at which the progress towards conflict became unstoppable and Omagh, which marked the moment at which everyone knew the conflict had to end. The Omagh bomb remains the single greatest atrocity of the Troubles and was all the more tragic in that it happened at a time when the people of these islands were beginning to believe that the bloody conflict they had lived with all their lives might be coming to an end. Out of tragedy the families of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group have pursued a campaign for justice that symbolizes hope for us all. And it was important for me, having made the first film, to bookend the conflict with this one.'

Like Bloody Sunday, Omagh is an Anglo/Irish collaboration. Together with Don Mullan, (author of the acclaimed Eyewitness Bloody Sunday) with whom he had worked on Bloody Sunday, Greengrass approached the Omagh Support and Self Help Group and the Gallagher Family, to seek their support for the project. Without the consent of the Support Group and the individual families depicted in this film, this project could never have been made.

The project then moved forward with co-writer Guy Hibbert (May 33rd), director Peter Travis (Henry VIII), producer Ed Guiney (The Magdelene Sisters) and script editor Lucy Dyke, supported by the film's executive producers Greg Brenman (Tiger Aspect), Andrew Lowe (Element Films) and Arthur Lappin (Hell's Kitchen International).

As producer Ed Guiney explains 'From the very start it was recognised that a film which tells the story of a tragedy which impacted hugely on the minds and consciousness of Ireland and the UK should be a collaboration between British and Irish filmmakers, producers and broadcasters. It was felt that only by drawing on a shared experience and perspective could the production team hope to help develop and produce a film which would set out to tell the story of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group, the public face of many of the families of the victims of the Omagh bomb and itself a monument to cross community unity in the face of the most inhumane repression.'

Thirty-one lives were lost in the Omagh bomb, devastating a small town and leaving a lasting legacy. Greengrass was conscious of the sensitivities around the timing of such a traumatic story. 'It's terribly difficult to make a judgement about the right time to make a film like this and obviously some families wish to grieve privately, but the families of the Omagh Support and Self Help Group have been in the public eye throughout the last five years, pursuing a legal campaign, shortly to come before the courts, with far reaching implications for all of us and it feels the right moment for them to be heard, to bring their story to a wider audience so we can all understand the journey they have made.'

Don Mullan has a lifetime's experience campaigning on behalf of the victims of the Troubles. Throughout the making of Omagh, Mullan has fulfilled the crucial role of liaising with bereaved families. He describes his first meeting with the Omagh families as 'difficult, traumatic and sorrowful.'

Mullan found that most families welcomed the idea of a film, although they expressed a range of reactions. 'Those involved in the civil action against the suspected bombers and the issuing of writs against the British Government and former RUC could see that the film would be important in helping to inform a wider public, indeed the world, of their struggle for justice and accountability. Others, still trying to cope with the rawness of their loss, expressed views that ranged from opposition, to wishing the production well but stating they were unable to be involved due to their sorrow and suffering. We also consulted widely throughout Omagh's religious and civic leaders, all of whom were sympathetic to the aims of the production.'

After Mullan's meetings the decision was taken that a film concentrating on the Support Group and their campaign for justice should go ahead. And a series of intensive consultations began between the Support Group and Dyke, Guiney, Hibbert and Mullan.

While researching the project Hibbert described the Omagh bomb as 'a scythe in the hand of an insane reaper who felled every particular religious and political persuasion in the Northern conflict.' He goes on to explain why he feels the story of the victims of the bomb should be told. 'The issue that is in dispute in relation to Omagh is the determination (or not) of the authorities to bring those responsible to justice, and there is an awful sense of betrayal, particularly from people who put their faith in politicians and police on both sides of the border,' he says.

There were more detailed discussions with the families about the script and how the events should be represented. 'The Support Group was adamant that we didn't shy away from the full horror [of the bombing]. The most difficult day was the day that we finally gave the script to them to read. Before we read it to them, we met each family and told them exactly how they were depicted,' says Dyke.

John Yorke, Channel 4's Head of Drama greenlit Omagh as soon as he had read the first draft of the script. 'Immediately I could see this project was capable of making an incredibly powerful statement, not only about the Omagh Support Group's courage and resilience but also about terrible impact of terrorism - a story which has resonance for us all.'

Once the script was agreed upon the families entrusted the director Pete Travis to tell their story on screen and the production was ready to roll.

Omagh was filmed in and around Dublin at the end of 2003. To film in Omagh would have been insensitive and inappropriate, particularly when it came to recreating the explosion of the bomb. This was filmed in the town of Navan, near Dublin, where the centre of Omagh was recreated.

It was a huge responsibility to create an authentic representation of the families' story on film. 'The point about representing real people is you have to be sensitive to their understanding of events, to see it way they do, involving them in the process and them trusting you to tell their story as honestly as you can. The responsibility here is to make the best film you can, to make a film that people have to see because this is a story that has to be told. Its a tremendous honour to be trusted with it' says director Pete Travis.

Recreating a real event requires a particular directorial approach and Travis rose to the challenge. 'You can't approach the film in any other way than as if you are filming a fly on the wall documentary, what your after is vivid realism. You want to tell a truthful story, so its all hand held cameras, no lights, no artifice of any kind. You have to capture a moment in time and try and get it right first time. There is a tradition of documentary-style films from the 'Battle of Algiers', to 'Z' and 'Bloody Sunday', they were the inspiration.'

The team agreed to show the film to the families before anyone else saw it. 'We hope that they will feel we have done justice to their story and told it authentically,' says producer Ed Guiney.

When deciding how to focus the story, the filmmakers decided to focus on one particular tragedy - the death of 21-year-old Aiden Gallagher and the consequences for his family. Aiden's father Michael was chosen as the centre of the film because he became spokesperson for the families campaign and he and his family consented to have their story being told. 'I would like to think that what the drama does is show that in the midst of evil and wickedness, ordinary people from a wide variety of backgrounds have come together in the fight for truth and justice. I hope that the message that comes out of the film is that hope comes out of despair,' says Michael Gallagher.

For anyone who is portrayed in a drama it must be a strange experience to see their life depicted by another person. Michael was particularly pleased that Gerard McSorley was chosen to play him and the pair spent a lot of time in discussion together. 'He (Gerard) is from Omagh which means that he has a direct connection with the town. He brings a deeper passion to the film than someone who was unconnected with it,' he says.

Director Pete Travis was equally impressed with McSorley. 'Gerry brought a huge amount of passion and feeling as a son of Omagh. He acts on instinct and tended to be, rather than do anything - it is a very understated performance which is what makes it extraordinarily moving.'

McSorley, who also appeared in Bloody Sunday, was anxious to get inside Gallagher's head. 'My main concern here was to represent what I observed to be the psychological life of the man and his family within the context of the script. I don't know what it is about Michael Gallagher but he has a very quiet, still charisma - his wife says that he is able to say things to politicians who are being eloquent and articulate like: 'are you sure that you are right about that?' And in some kind of way his quietness is a devastating embarrassment to the authorities who he seeks to get some answers from,' says McSorley.

'It's been a harrowing thing to do, and I just hope that it will be a good job and I don't mean that from the point of view of an actor's vanity, I mean that as an Irish actor I'm very proud to be the person chosen to tell the story,' he adds.

Ultimately, the point of Omagh is to tell the Support Group's story. 'It allows their struggle for justice and their pain to be heard by a national and international audience. And it has a wider importance too - I believe the film is a wake up call with regards to our fragile peace process and a stark reminder of a past we hope will never be visited on innocent people again,' says Don Mullan. Equally the film is an intensely moving account of a family's trauma and journey towards recovery.

As McSorley puts it: 'There is universality to this story - anybody anywhere in the world will recognise the pain and loss of the Gallagher family.'

In conclusion Ed Guiney states; 'Omagh tells the story of the last desperate scream, what we all hope is the final tragedy of the Troubles. It also tells the story of Northern Ireland's bloody history from the point of view of the innocent ordinary people who are its true victims, and how these ordinary people refused to be beaten by forging enduring relationships across nation, class and religion.'