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After nearly 10 years since the groundbreaking St. Andrews agreement, director Nick Hamm reimagines the event that revolutionized negotiations and peace-building in Ireland and inspired nations worldwide, in his film The Journey. The 2007 agreement, which brought together Irish Republican Army leader Martin McGuiness and his archrival, Unionist Ian Paisley, settled the Irish civil war that plagued the nation from 1968-1998. Hamm depicts a gripping tale of how Paisley and McGuiness mediated peace and became First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Ireland, amidst the tension the arose in their fundamental differences and divergent political career paths.
Although the exact details of their negotiations are unclear, the film envisions the agreement in a cross country road trip that transformed the sworn enemies into dear friends, so much so that they were given the nickname “The Chuckle Brothers.” The movie, which stars Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley and Colm Meaney as Martin McGuiness, premiered at the IFC Center by Search for Common Ground on June 15.
The Troubles afflicted Ireland and split the nation for 30 years, taking the lives of 3,500 people. At the crux of the conflict was IRA head McGuiness, scrutinized for his use of explosives and extreme tactics and Paisley, a protestant unionist who made it his mission to stop the rebellious forces. Throughout the film, the opponents speak about the blood on their hands and how their anchorage to their beliefs has barred them from finding common ground. Ultimately, Hamm’s film teaches the audience about how mediation is possible, even in the most extreme circumstances, because of tactics such as the easing of tensions through simple conversations.
“I think people build up caricatures of their enemies all the time and the scariest thing is the anticipation of engaging them,” Common Ground CEO Shamil Idriss said in an interviee to the Diplomatic Courier after the film’s premiere. “Once you engage them and they have those tics and humor, and all these eminently human things it becomes harder to keep this distance and maintain that edifice that they are all wrong, all bad, all evil.”
The film also highlighted other elements of effective mediation, such as the importance of accepting responsibility and setting party politics—even one’s most core beliefs aside—for peace.
“You need politicians that are prepared to lead and not just follow their base and not just follow their constituency, to look beyond that,” Director Nick Hamm said.
In the film, McGuiness and Paisley had to not only find a middle ground in their beliefs, but also address their actions during the civil war. The conversations in the film that eroded the tensions between the two leaders included the admission of accountability for deaths that occurred during the Troubles, such as the Bloody Sunday Massacre and the 1982 hunger strikes.
Meaney said that his character, Martin McGuiness, moved the negotiations forward by expressing responsibility for his involvement in the war’s violence and exemplified an element of mediation that should be taken up by more politicians.
“The notion of truth and reconciliation is something that has been brought up a number of times and there are similar processes in Africa that seem to work quite well,” Meaney said. “That has never been done in our era and perhaps it should be done, and that’s the question for politicians, whether that will be beneficial.”
Today, party politics around the world appear more divided than ever. As countries attempt to negotiate peace, politicians often remain secured to their convictions.
“We live in a world now in which the left is as bad as the right,” Hamm said. “It's a world of token tragedies, in the way that we behave, the way that we think about politics, and the way that we conduct ourselves.”
However, Hamm said that the events that surrounded the St. Andrew’s agreement will hopefully inspire other leaders.
“I think that it is a slight beacon of responsibility in the sense that if they have done that then other people can try and do it,” Hamm said. “I think that is one of the reasons why the film is there, because it says look, they’ve done it and if these guys have done it then anyone can do it. That is the example that you hold up for politicians to follow suit.”
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
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The Journey: A Lesson in Finding Middle Ground in Politics and in Life
June 27, 2017
After nearly 10 years since the groundbreaking St. Andrews agreement, director Nick Hamm reimagines the event that revolutionized negotiations and peace-building in Ireland and inspired nations worldwide, in his film The Journey. The 2007 agreement, which brought together Irish Republican Army leader Martin McGuiness and his archrival, Unionist Ian Paisley, settled the Irish civil war that plagued the nation from 1968-1998. Hamm depicts a gripping tale of how Paisley and McGuiness mediated peace and became First Minister and Deputy First Minister of Ireland, amidst the tension the arose in their fundamental differences and divergent political career paths.
Although the exact details of their negotiations are unclear, the film envisions the agreement in a cross country road trip that transformed the sworn enemies into dear friends, so much so that they were given the nickname “The Chuckle Brothers.” The movie, which stars Timothy Spall as Ian Paisley and Colm Meaney as Martin McGuiness, premiered at the IFC Center by Search for Common Ground on June 15.
The Troubles afflicted Ireland and split the nation for 30 years, taking the lives of 3,500 people. At the crux of the conflict was IRA head McGuiness, scrutinized for his use of explosives and extreme tactics and Paisley, a protestant unionist who made it his mission to stop the rebellious forces. Throughout the film, the opponents speak about the blood on their hands and how their anchorage to their beliefs has barred them from finding common ground. Ultimately, Hamm’s film teaches the audience about how mediation is possible, even in the most extreme circumstances, because of tactics such as the easing of tensions through simple conversations.
“I think people build up caricatures of their enemies all the time and the scariest thing is the anticipation of engaging them,” Common Ground CEO Shamil Idriss said in an interviee to the Diplomatic Courier after the film’s premiere. “Once you engage them and they have those tics and humor, and all these eminently human things it becomes harder to keep this distance and maintain that edifice that they are all wrong, all bad, all evil.”
The film also highlighted other elements of effective mediation, such as the importance of accepting responsibility and setting party politics—even one’s most core beliefs aside—for peace.
“You need politicians that are prepared to lead and not just follow their base and not just follow their constituency, to look beyond that,” Director Nick Hamm said.
In the film, McGuiness and Paisley had to not only find a middle ground in their beliefs, but also address their actions during the civil war. The conversations in the film that eroded the tensions between the two leaders included the admission of accountability for deaths that occurred during the Troubles, such as the Bloody Sunday Massacre and the 1982 hunger strikes.
Meaney said that his character, Martin McGuiness, moved the negotiations forward by expressing responsibility for his involvement in the war’s violence and exemplified an element of mediation that should be taken up by more politicians.
“The notion of truth and reconciliation is something that has been brought up a number of times and there are similar processes in Africa that seem to work quite well,” Meaney said. “That has never been done in our era and perhaps it should be done, and that’s the question for politicians, whether that will be beneficial.”
Today, party politics around the world appear more divided than ever. As countries attempt to negotiate peace, politicians often remain secured to their convictions.
“We live in a world now in which the left is as bad as the right,” Hamm said. “It's a world of token tragedies, in the way that we behave, the way that we think about politics, and the way that we conduct ourselves.”
However, Hamm said that the events that surrounded the St. Andrew’s agreement will hopefully inspire other leaders.
“I think that it is a slight beacon of responsibility in the sense that if they have done that then other people can try and do it,” Hamm said. “I think that is one of the reasons why the film is there, because it says look, they’ve done it and if these guys have done it then anyone can do it. That is the example that you hold up for politicians to follow suit.”
The views presented in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent the views of any other organization.
