Original subtitles

[projector whirring]

- Something in life, you're always Worried

about car bombs, shootings.

- This is the most resilient community in the world.

People survive. People don't break down.

People are exposed to awful things here.

- You walk around the corner

and possibly a bomb will go off or a shooting.

It's just part of life, really.

- There's no point in being bitter.

All it does in the end is intensify the situation,

and it widens the whole wound in Northern Ireland.

- We actually are surviving.

That's the whole story of Belfast.

- It's really only a tit-for-tat thing.

Kill a Catholic, kill a Protestant,

and it's returned.

[tense percussive music]

[♪♪]

[gunshot]

[♪♪]

[faint screams]

[♪♪]

[rain pattering]

[police radio chatter]

[thunder rumbling]

[indistinct chatter]

- Harry. - Prime Minister.

Ah, kippers.

- What am I doing about Ian's golden wedding anniversary?

- You got him a leather photo album.

- Couldn't we do better than that?

What are the Irish getting him?

- Well, Bertie's got him a bowl carved from a tree

recovered from the site of the Battle of the Boyne, 1690.

- Bloody hell.

Can't we steal it?

- Well, we do have form. - [chuckles]

- So how are you doing?

Do you feel the hand of history on your shoulder?

- Around my throat, more like. - [chuckles]

- It's like looking at the Promised Land

through the wrong end of a telescope.

- Prime Minister, I've been at this since 1972.

I've retired three times.

I have more comebacks than Sinatra.

Every time there is a chink of light, they drag me back

simply because I know them better than anyone.

But this time is the first time I really felt...

Yes, there's a chance.

We can do this.

- Do you say this to all the prime ministers?

- Of course.

Only this time, I mean it.

- Why now?

- Well, because...

young men fight for the hell of it,

but old men care about their legacy.

Now, I think this is the right time.

- Well, I hope you're right.

[thunder rumbling]

Speaking of old men, Ian disappearing like this

isn't gonna help matters.

- It'll keep him sweet.

50 years of marriage.

It's rumored it's the last time he said yes to anything.

- [chuckles]

- [humming]

[poignant music]

[♪♪]

[groans]

[door opens]

[♪♪]

- Mrs. Thatcher tells us

that that republic

must have some say in our province.

We say never!

Never! Never!

[softly] Never.

- [chuckling]

[news report playing indistinctly over TV]

Bernie, Bernie, you need to go easy on the garlic.

- Even though the pressure is on to make a deal...

- I'm telling-I'm serious.

The last- the last time I cooked,

the girls said I nearly poisoned them.

[knock on door]

- In the north, over civil' rights.

In brief, because the Catholics wanted...

- Ah.

Well, don't blame me. Blame Delia.

- And the Protestants Wanted to remain

part of the United Kingdom,

and they've been at it ever since.

- Right.

- The main players on the Republican side...

- All right, all right. Meatballs it is, then. Mm-hmm.

Well, it's not luck we need.

It's divine intervention. Hmm.

Bye.

- The long history of acrimony and distrust

that comes with Northern Ireland.

Such an outcome is very much par for the course.

- But if We're talking about public perception,

we can go back even further:

the Remembrance Day bombing in 1987

and that moving and memorable interview

given by Gordon Wilson

whose daughter, Marie, died in the explosion.

- I asked her three or four times...

- [whispering]

- She assured me she was all right.

She screamed every time.

The fifth time I asked her,

she said, "Daddy, I love you very much."

That's what her last words were.

- What is your reaction now 10-10 the bombers,

the people who did this?

- I prayed for the bombers fast nigh t.

That God would forgive them.

- Bertie. - Tony.

- Come through. Did you have a good journey?

- I did, yes. We came up...

[dramatic music]

[♪♪]

[indistinct chatter]

[♪♪]

[dramatic music intensifies]

[♪♪]

- Divide and conquer.

- Divide and rule.

- To trust them, to acknowledge their political mandate?

I mean, how can you have a discussion with someone

who might murder you if you don't agree with them?

[indistinct chatter]

- Policing, then we're nearly there,

but with the marching, we're gonna have to fudge that.

Make a new body. Buy us some time.

Yes? Oh, right.

Just wait a minute. I'll be back.

- If we're going with your police,

and that's revolutionary,

and you don't give ground on parades?

- [clears throat]

Is there a problem?

- You know it's his big night tonight.

They've guests coming in

from all over the world for the celebrations.

- Well, we agreed it would be fine.

- The storm has closed Glasgow Airport.

- Ah.

- He'll be devastated.

Is there anything you can do?

- We need a clear commitment from...

- [clears throat] Hello.

Hi. Hello.

Uh, Gerry, Martin, bit of a situation.

Um, as you know,

Dr. Paisley is due to attend

his golden wedding anniversary celebration

in Belfast this evening.

Unfortunately, the weather has shut Glasgow Airport.

Now, uh, obviously, this is very important to him.

- Tony and I both agree that it'd be a nice gesture

and beneficial to the talks if we could find a way

to get Dr. Paisley to his celebrations.

- Now, as it happens, we may be able

to fly him out of Edinburgh Airport.

Private business jet, bankers.

We've been able to pull a few strings

and we can get him on board.

And there's a very small window of opportunity

before the storm shifts.

However... [chuckles]

Before we propose this,

we need to clear it with you.

You know, favoritism and all that.

- That's absolutely not a problem.

- Great. Marvelous.

Thank you.

- As long as I fly with him.

- I'm sorry?

- Well, as you well know...

Our protocols dictate

that senior figures in opposing parties

must fly together.

It lessens the chance of either side

firing a ground-to-air missile or...

- Well, surely, we're beyond the point of...

- Nevertheless.

It would also give me the opportunity

to consult with the Army Council.

- Couldn't you just phone them?

- [chuckles]

- Bertie, we need to talk.

[indistinct whispering]

- What are you doing?

- Look, he's going home into his heartland,

but this time...

If they get a hold of him before he's said yes,

they will change his mind.

But if Big Ian doesn't say yes now,

we are just pissing in the wind.

He has to be convinced.

- How?

He hasn't ever spoken a single word to any of us.

He hates us.

And what if it's a wild-goose chase?

What if he doesn't speak?

Or what if he does speak and it all goes to hell?

Martin, we can't take the risk of-

- We have always taken the risk, Gerry.

I'd rather it was me and him going 12 rounds

than that shower of sycophants that follows him around.

He's 81.

If we don't get to him now, we will never get to him.

[thunder rumbling]

- Don't do this.

Don't cut a deal with that old bastard.

- I'm not cutting anything, Rory.

We're just bringing it home.

It's no time for cold feet.

- We announce a ceasefire. We give up our guns.

We negotiate with the Unionists.

We recognize we're part of the United Kingdom,

so the Queen is our queen.

We put all of those things together

and we call it a victory.

Hows that a victory?

- We were fighting for 30 years. It didn't work.

They could never have beaten us,

but we could never have beaten them either.

- You should be ashamed of yourself.

We're soldiers.

There's no shame in losing, but stand up and admit it.

Don't dress it up like somehow we've triumphed.

- Politics is a long game, Rory.

You have to stay the course.

Everything we want, we will get.

Maybe not today or tomorrow.

It may take another 30 years.

- Jesus, I invite you to be with us,

watching over us and keeping us safe.

- But believe you me, I would not be talking

to that auld bastard...

If I didn't think we were gonna get there.

- I pray for an alert mind whilst traveling.

I pray you keep this vehicle we're in safe

from mechanical failure.

Thank you for the commitment you made to me at the cross.

Amen.

- Uh, there's... well, there's good news

and there's bad news.

- Yes, son?

- Well, the good news is,

they'll get you to the airport on time.

The bad news...

I'm sorry, Daddy. We'd no choice.

- It's no skin off my nose.

- You'll be at the airport in 60 minutes; just say nothing.

- I haven't spoken to him in 30 years.

Another hour isn't gonna be any trouble.

- Just enjoy your night. I wish I could be there.

Don't worry, I'll hold the fort here.

. Okay

- The jet touches down at 7:00; the weather's closing in,

so if you're not there, they won't hang around.

You'll be cleared straight onto the tarmac, but 7:00, okay?

That's your end game. - I'll be there by 6:00.

[siren whoops]

[instrumental music]

[♪♪]

- So far, so good.

[♪♪]

[helicopter rotors whirring]

[♪♪]

- Do I recognize you from somewhere?

' Hmm?

- [laughs] I do, don't I?

Are you on TV?

- We're politicians.

- Guess who I had in the back of the car once.

Samuel L. Jackson.

Oh, I know. He was playing golf.

Well, not right there in the back.

[chuckles] At St. Andrews.

Do you follow the golf?

- I'm more of a cricket man myself, so I am.

- You and me both, pal.

But aren't you, like, Irish or something?

I just didn't think the Irish liked cricket.

- There's a lot would surprise you

about the Irish, so there is.

- And what about you, sir?

- I do not have time for cricket.

- Ah. Okay, I do know your face.

Who are you really?

- This is Dr. Ian Paisley,

leader of the Democratic Unionist Party,

founder and moderator of the Free Presbyterian Church.

- Cool.

And you, sir?

- This is Martin McGuinness,

former chief of staff of the Irish Republican Army.

- Allegedly.

[Grunts]

It's Wild, huh?

The rain.

- "I establish my covenant with you,

"and all flesh shall never again be cut off

by the waters of the flood."

- You must have a verse for every occasion, eh?

How about one for two auld enemies

in the back of a car,

neither one knowing how to make the first move?

- I have no interest in moves,

Mr. McGuinness.

[♪♪]

- Looks like the rain's stopping.

[indistinct radio chatter]

You know, I...

I didn't mean to be disrespectful,

or anything, not recognizing you.

I just always thought the IRA was led by that guy

with the beard and the pipe, you know?

So where do you fit in?

- You might call me the acceptable public face.

- [clears throat and coughs]

- Forecast is not good.

There will be a lot of unhappy golfers.

Oh, but then you're into the old cricket.

- Nicely played.

They should feel free to speak in front of you.

There's an opportunity here to see how

they really get on when no one is watching.

You see, we're hoping that what they have in common

will be enough to break down the barriers.

That just the two of them stripped of all this

bureaucracy and scrutiny

will work this out.

Bring a real and lasting peace.

You're young, aren't you? 25? 26?

Still, old enough that you should know who these men are.

They are The Troubles.

They are civil war.

They are anarchy.

[gunshots screaming]

[crowd clamoring]

[siren wailing]

- I prayed for the bombers last night.

That God would forgive them.

[explosion, glass shattering]

" [sighs]

What?

- Shut his eyes as soon as he got in.

Been like that for the last ten minutes.

- Oh, bloody hell.

- He's 81, and he hasn't been well.

- Thatcher operated on four hours' sleep

and a pact with the devil.

Paisley has the energy of ten men half his age.

This is just his way of not engaging.

Wake him up. - Hold on.

You know what they say about sleeping dogs.

- It still needs to be done.

At the end of this, either we hold the peace

or we go back to war.

- [chuckles]

You do have a flair for the dramatic.

[rock music playing over radio]

- God, sorry!

[music stops]

Oh. I am sorry. Sorry.

[indistinct radio chatter]

- Ay-yi-yi.

So 50 years married, huh?

[scoffs] Oh. You'd get less time for murder.

[laughs]

I shouldn't have said that.

There's only one possible comeback...

That I would know all about murder.

I walked right into it.

Like stepping on a land mine.

Oh, God. There I go again.

- Do you think any of this

is a laughing matter, Mr. McGuinness?

- No, no, no, absolutely not.

I'm just trying to break the ice.

- I'm just trying to get home.

- We're all just trying to get home.

Isn't that profound?

[siren wailing]

[phone beeps]

Do you have a signal?

Dr. Paisley, do you have a mobile phone signal?

- I've absolutely no idea.

- Well, would you check?

- Why?

Do you think I'm gonna lend you my phone, Mr. McGuinness?

- No, no, of course not. No, I...

It's just the signal.

[thunder rumbling]

So this party of yours tonight, hmm?

Pints of Guinness and a bit of boogie, eh?

[laughs]

Oh.

Sorry, I forgot.

Alcohol is the devil's buttermilk, that right?

And what was it you said about dancing?

Oh, no, no, no, not just dancing.

Line dancing.

Poor, inoffensive line dancing.

- Mr. McGuinness, my party is not your affair.

But for your information, line dancing is as sinful

as any other type of dancing.

With its sexual gestures and touching,

it's an incitement to lust.

- Not the way I do it, it isn't.

[chuckles]

I'm only winding you up.

- No, Mr. McGuinness, you're not.

[helicopter rotors whirring]

- So what's your position on the great Samuel L. Jackson,

hmm?

Would you shake his hand if we stopped to pick him up?

- Andrew Jackson was the seventh president of the United States.

He was a Presbyterian of good Ulster stock.

I'd shake his hand.

I've absolutely no idea who Samuel L. Jackson is.

- Oh. He's a movie star.

Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown.

Snakes on a Plane.

That's still playing

in the pictures, if you wanted to go.

- Mr. McGuinness, I haven't been to the pictures

since 1973.

- Seriously?

[chuckles]

Well, what did you go to see?

- I didn't go to see anything.

I was protesting outside.

- 1973...

What would have got your goat in 1973'?

Uh, 19...

Oh. Was it The Sting, huh?

All that gambling offended your sensibilities?

No.

What about you? 1973.

- '73'? Uh...

Hold on. I'll just phone my granddad.

[both laughing]

- Enter the Dragon. That-that would have been 1973.

Well, too much violence, eh?

No.

No, it wasn't that.

I know what it was. Of course.

The Exorcist. Mm-hmm.

"Your mother sucks"...

- We protested peacefully outside.

Your lot set incendiary bombs

and burned them down.

[solemn music]

[♪♪]

[cell phone ringing]

[phone continues ringing]

Hello, dear.

No, no, everything is fine.

Have our guests started arriving?

[laughs]

Oh, no, I'll be there on time.

[phone beeps]

I wouldn't miss it for the world.

Yes, I have company.

No, no, nobody important.

All right, dear, yes. Yes, all right, yes.

- So you have a signal.

Could I borrow your phone, please?

Just-just for a couple of minutes to-

- No, you may not.

My phone is not for the likes of you.

- All right, okay.

It's your phone. Absolutely.

Look, if I could just even send a text to-

- No.

" [sighs]

A text is not gonna kill you.

Oh, unless, of course, it's a-it's an order.

[chuckles]

Oh, come on.

Jesus Christ, how are we supposed to get anything done-

- You watch your language with me, boy!

- Don't "boy" me!

- Well, do not take the Lord's name in vain.

- Oh, all right, all right, okay, okay.

That's always been the problem with you.

- You have no give in you. - Really?

That's why we're all sitting up the road then, is it?

- Just give me the phone, will you?

Extend the olive branch.

- Well, I'd imagine you'd be more familiar

with Special Branch.

[chuckles]

- That's good.

[both laughing]

That's funny.

[laughing]

- [chuckles]

" [sighs]

You've been like this your whole life, haven't you?

My way or the highway.

- It isn't a question of it being my way, Mr. McGuinness.

It's a question of it being the right way, of God's way.

- Oh, because God is always whispering in your ear.

- Well, perhaps if you listened a little bit harder,

you might hear him whispering in your ear too.

- I hear him whispering, okay? Oh, yeah.

Jesus we pt.

- Are you a married man, Mr. McGuinness?

- Yes, I am.

- So what does she make of your, um...

Your career choices?

Of the blood on your hands?

- She's in my corner, good times and bad.

As I'm sure yours accepts-

- There's no blood on my hands, Mr. McGuinness.

- Please, stop.

We were at war, never at peace.

- Yes, a peace that allows your lot

to rob and kill and use that-

- It's not perfect.

But that's why we're here, isn't it'?

To sort it out.

The final solution.

L-I don't mean the "final solution."

[stammering] I mean- I mean, a final solution.

[sighs]

One way or the other...

I just want to say, I hope you have a good night.

And a good party.

50 years, hmm.

If you don't mind me asking,

you don't dance, and you don't drink,

so how did you meet her?

- It was the Titanic.

- How old are you?

- Her father owned a grocery shop,

bottom of the Nevvtownards Road right near the shipyard

where the Titanic was built.

I was, uh... I was preaching on some waste ground opposite.

It was a big crowd.

I could see her standin' in the shop doorway, apron on,

listening, and my eye kept coming back to her.

I said, um, "How proud we should be of the Titanic.

It's such an immense achievement."

And someone shouted, "The bloody thing sank!"

And I Said, "Well, it...

it was all right when it left here."

[chuckles]

She was the only one who laughed.

So when I'd done, I followed her into the-into the shop.

- To chat her up?

Hmm. I'd like to have seen that.

Ian Paisley chatting someone up?

- Oh, believe it or not, I was quiet and shy in those days.

- Dr. Paisley, you were never quiet.

- Quieter.

She was up a ladder stocking shelves.

She glanced around at me, and her cheeks went all pink.

She asked me if she could help me, and I said...

"Do you have any aeroplane biscuits?"

And she said, "What are those? I've never heard of them."

And I said, "You know, they're the wee plain ones."

She started giggling.

[laughs]

And that was that.

- Ian Paisley, the stand-up comic, huh?

[chuckles]

Tell me somethin'.

After all these years,

does she still enjoy all the grandstanding?

- The grand... - Yeah, like she never says,

"Ian, would you wind your neck in?"

I mean, you stood in the middle of the European Parliament

and called the Pope the Antichrist.

I mean, did she not tell you to catch yourself on?

She-she thought that was a good idea?

- She did, and it had to be said.

- You mugged the Pope.

- Mr. McGuinness, I am not a man of violence-

- Do you or do you not believe

that the European Union is part of a conspiracy

to create a Roman Catholic super state

controlled by the Vatican?

- I do and it is. - Brilliant.

And did you or did you not write that seat number 666

in the European Parliament is reserved for the Antichrist?

Oh, fabulous.

Do you really, really, really believe all this?

You know, I'm not mocking you.

You're entitled to your opinions.

I'm mocking the poor blind fools that swallow it all

hook, line and sinker.

They elect you again and again and again.

The most popular politician in Europe and the most extreme.

- All I do is follow the teachings of the scriptures.

And I challenge any man to find different.

- And scriptures told you

to burn Catholics out of their homes?

- I didn't. - You incited people to do it.

- I preach the Lord's words.

- You said priests and nuns were handing out sub machine guns.

- And they were. - Oh, for God's sake.

Do you know why, in nearly 30 years,

the IRA has never, never once tried to kill you?

Because you, with all your bigotry,

all your "Save Ulster from Sodomy" campaigning,

seein' Antichrists around every corner,

you have done more damage to your own lot

than the IRA could have ever done with a thousand bombs.

- That's a matter of opinion, and you're wrong!

Your lot have made at least three attempts at my life.

- Nope.

At least our side hasn't.

- You can almost taste it, can't you?

The hatred. Thick as blood.

It congeals in the same way too.

Forms a scab that keeps the poison in.

But every once in a while, a little just leaks out.

Just enough to pollute everything it touches.

Imagine the Twin Towers falling.

Falling twice.

That's the kind of violence we're talking about.

And all caused by children bickering.

And yet these are our bright and shining beacons of hope.

You see, a beating...

Or a murder or a bomb

that kills two or three people isn't enough anymore.

Not since 9/11. It means nothing.

For terror to be effective, it now has to be massive.

Has to be a Hollywood spectacular.

And these men haven't the stomach for it.

Not anymore.

But...

there's always a new generation coming up

more ambitious, more outrageous.

[crowd yelling]

These men and these women,

they need to be nipped in the bud.

And your passengers can do that

if they can just get over their own poisonous past.

How are we doing for time?

- We're on schedule. In fact, we're a little ahead.

- Let's lose the security car.

[indistinct radio transmission]

[helicopter rotors whirring]

- Where is the security car?

- Sir?

- The security car?

It was there a minute ago and then-

- To tell you the truth, I wasn't even aware

there was a security car.

- Of course, there was.

It was right behind us.

- Oh, the irony.

The great Republican Martin McGuinness

getting nervous

because the Queen's men aren't here to protect him.

- It's not that. It's...

- Do you think someone's gonna take you out?

This might be Scotland, but it-it is Calvin country.

There's no love lost for the likes of you,

so you might have a point.

Or is it your own side you're worried about?

- Don't be ridiculous.

Well, we should have protection. We're... politicians.

- Oh, really? Oh!

Oh, yeah, that's what you are, is it?

Ah, well, you've come a long way

from the wee guttersnipe

hurling rocks at British soldiers.

Or did the, uh... the balaclava get a bit too scratchy?

Now you've a nice suit and shiny shoes.

You're quite the respectable little democrat.

- At least I aspire to it.

Can I please borrow your bloody phone?

- No.

- You're 35 miles from Edinburgh Airport,

and that is not very far.

We've diverted you to the Lomond Hills Regional Park

to give them a bit more time.

So just drive around for as long as you can.

Try not to be obvious.

By the time you leave that park,

we want them singing off the same hymn sheet.

- Hey, where are we goin'?

- Sorry, there's a diversion ahead.

The roads flooded with all the rain.

It's just a wee bit of a detour.

Shouldn't slow us down at all.

[percussive music]

[♪♪]

- Hey, what are we doing in the middle of a forest?

- Shortcut, sir.

We'll be joining the M90 on the other side.

- Shortcut?

- Shortcut?

[tires screeching]

[thudding]

Jesus!

- What's going on?

- Sir, they-they appear to have crashed.

- I told you to buy time, not bloody-

- Sorry. Sorry, sorry, sorry.

- Look, can you hear me?

What the hell is going on?

[muffled thumping]

- [sighs] Are you all right, sir?

Are you okay?

- Yes, I am. I'm grand.

Yes, uh, what was that? - Sorry, a deer.

A deer, it just ran right out in front.

I did hit the brakes, but we slid.

Are you okay? - I'm fine.

- Okay, so just stay inside

while I check on the damage,

and we'll be back on the road in no time.

- They're getting out.

For God's sake, don't let them get out.

We need to keep them in the car.

What are they saying? I can't hear what they're saying.

- [breathing heavily]

- There goes your party. - No, don't even say that.

Okay. This is... This is no problem.

Okay. This is no problem at all. Now...

Just, uh, I'm gonna just go and fix the, uh...

[whispers] Fucking hell.

Just wait.

- About bloody time.

Did you deliberately prang it?

- No. Okay, no.

What am I supposed to do now?

- There was no blood or fur...

On the headlight or the tire.

- We have a puncture, yes.

I haven't changed a tire in...

I've never changed a tire.

We don't even know if it's fixable.

- Well, first...

We lose the security car.

- Hmm.

- Then we make a mysterious detour

that nobody else seems to be makin'.

Then we-we crash for no obvious reason.

- You need to get the spare tire out of the boot.

You need to get the jack,

and above all, you need to hear what they're saying.

- You'd nearly think they want us marooned out here.

- You might think that.

I suppose, in your line of work,

you have to live with a certain amount of paranoia.

It was an accident. It will be fixed.

We will make our flight.

- Yeah, you sure about that, hmm?

You get a wee Whisper from up above, huh?

[engine whirring]

Maybe he doesn't want us to leave the talks.

Maybe he thinks your golden wedding party

is an extravagance we can't afford.

- Gents,

the good news is that the engine is fine.

So if you just want to get back in the car,

I'll change the tire, and we'll soon be back on our way.

- Have you ever changed a tire before, young man?

- Sir?

- You have to jack it up, boy.

That means we can't be in the back, no!

- I'm with Bertie now.

Policing. We're going round in circles.

I, uh, hope you don't mind.

I thought it only right to invite Bertie to, uh...

- on.

- What's-what's going on? - We had an incident.

Uh, our driver managed to crash the car.

- Are they...

- No, no, no. No injuries that we're aware of.

Uh, nothing too serious with the vehicle.

Uh... - Where are they?

- [stammers]

In a forest.

- What are they doing in a forest?

- Walking.

- They should be near the airport by now.

- I'm afraid our grand plan to get them talking

was, uh, rather misfiring,

so the situation had to be managed.

- Where's their security?

- It was withdrawn.

- On whose authority?

- Uh, well, they needed time and a little pressure.

- So you withdrew their security

and allowed a child to crash the car.

And now they're... - Yes, Prime Minister.

- Do you think that's satisfactory?

The two men upon whom this entire peace agreement depends

wandering by themselves in a fucking wood!

- And your children?

What do you tell them about the murders

and the bombs and the...

- You don't understand us at all, do you?

You insist on seeing it in terms of murder...

- And genocide.

- Instead of people fighting for their rights,

for their country, for their freedom-

- I only judge it by the amount of funerals I go to

of ordinary, decent people.

- American independence, hmm? Terrorists?

French resistance, terrorists?

Horses for courses.

- Do you have nothing

on your conscience at all?

[indistinct chatter]

- Sir. Sir, sir, please.

- Look, I...

- Tony. - Not now.

- Prime Minister.

- Oh, God! Gerry! Gerry, I can explain.

- Gerry, it was a shock to me too.

But he's very good at making something categorically wrong

sound categorically right.

- Bertie, that is not fair.

- Where are they?

- They're wandering in a forest.

- But they're fine. They're fine.

Gerry, this isn't about you.

It's not about Martin or these-these images.

You know that. Bigger picture.

' [grunts]

If Bloody Sunday hadn't happened,

then we would have just faded away.

13 people on a civil rights march

shot dead by your Brits.

- Oh, people in glass houses shouldn't throw stones,

as I believe you did on that day.

- Oh, piss off, you smug...

[sighs]

[exhales]

13 innocent people shot in the back, most of 'em.

The next day, we'd so many volunteers, we couldn't cope.

They were-they were queuing round the block to join us.

- And you had your license to kill.

- We were fighting a civil war.

- And you lost.

Isn't-isn't that what this is all about, huh?

Your precious army is so riddled with informers,

you can barely mount an operation.

- I have a political mandate, just like you.

- You are nothing like me.

[branch snapping]

[birds chirping, wings flapping]

[instrumental music]

[♪♪]

[deer groans]

I grew up working on farms.

They're vermin.

- It's dying-

- You need to put it out of its misery.

It shouldn't be a problem to a soldier like you.

Just do it.

[♪♪]

[rock thuds]

[♪♪]

- I'd say the car's back that way.

- And I'm telling you, I don't see them.

- Okay, okay, about 300 meters on your right,

there's a church.

- I don't recognize them.

They must be your lot.

- Ah, these are all illustrations from the...

From the Book of Martyrs.

- Oh, if it's not by John Grisham,

I probably haven't read it.

[chuckles]

- Back then, the common people

had almost no other reading matter

except the Bible

and Foxe's Book of Martyrs.

Those who could read could learn of the full horror

of the atrocities performed on the Protestant reformers.

The illiterate

could see for themselves

these illustrations.

The book is more than a record of persecution.

It's a living force

and my inspiration.

- Well...

We Know a thing or two about martyrs as we“.

- I'm talking about men of faith.

- So am I.

Ten men starved themselves to death

for what they believed in.

- Murderers and bombers.

- Bobby Sands was a member of your blessed British Parliament.

- He was a terrorist.

- 100,000 people attended his funeral.

You think they were all terrorists?

- Your hunger strikers

chose to take their own lives.

That was a choice their many victims didn't have.

And you could have stopped it.

- I could have? - Yes.

You, Adams...

All you lot with your ballot paper in one hand

and your Armalite in the other.

The government was willing to make a deal with you,

but you thought that the publicity was worth

its weight in gold, so you wouldn't let them stop.

Until one after the other,

one after the other,

ten men lay dead.

- You know nothing about it.

- I know enough.

- If it wasn't for them,

we wouldn't be sittin' round a table now.

- There's no deal done yet.

- Bloody hell. Whose idea was this?

- It was my idea,

and I take full responsibility for it.

- No, no, no, no.

Well, actually, yes,

but the buck stops with me.

Or does it?

Look, we're-we're all at it.

We're in each other's pockets on this.

I mean, it goes with the territory, doesn't it?

Gerry, Martin didn't need to make that flight.

He volunteered.

- The IRA Army Council ordered- - Gerry, Gerry, come on.

We know.

Look, I'm on your side.

Okay?

Long term, I fully support your objectives.

Absolutely, a united Ireland.

And, Ian Kyle Jr., in the short term, which,

yeah, might actually turn out to be quite long,

I fully support yours too.

You remain part of the United Kingdom.

I mean, my grandfather was an Orangeman in Donegal,

for goodness sake.

And the moment that you agreed to your father

traveling with Martin, you knew what this was about.

So, gentlemen,

I have a foot in both graves-camps.

But I favor neither.

I favor... peace.

Now I know it will take a miracle

for these two to work things out.

And if listening in can make that happen,

if, as a result, we can divert traffic

or switch a signal to improve their chances,

then I fully support what Harry has done

completely of his own accord.

So I'm asking you, gentlemen, who may be rightly aggrieved,

to stand with me in this moment

where we are perched so precariously

on the razor's edge

to see this through and walk out of this hotel

and straight into the history books.

- Ditto.

- Come on, big man. We've a plane to catch.

I've never been one for talking in public, so I haven't.

Well, no problem with a small paramilitary unit.

Not like you.

Tens of thousands roaring you on.

[scoffs]

It was your finest hour.

Can we hear a bit of it?

- I don't have the power I used to have.

I haven't been well.

- Go on, you can do it.

Knock it out of the park, huh?

"Never, never, never!"

- Some say in our province!

We say never!

Never! Never! Never!

I'm not here for your entertainment.

- Then what are you here for?

- I don't know.

- I'll tell you why we're here

in this godforsaken church.

And it's nothing you don't already know.

We're here because we are on the verge of something

the wider world will applaud

but our own people will hate.

You are being asked to betray your tribe.

And I'm being asked to betray mine.

That's all.

- How can we even contemplate

doing this?

Hmm?

- [chuckles]

- What?

- That's the first time you've said "we."

[chuckles]

- Well.

- What?

[sighs] You are so defensive.

We've spent too much time in graveyards.

- Aye.

- You know, it's not that...

I don't have any regrets. It's...

- Walking on the dead there. Use the path.

Show some respect.

- Do you remember Enniskillen?

- Do I remember it?

- No, I... I don't mean that.

Of course, you remember it. It's just-

- The IRA planted a bomb at a Remembrance Day parade,

a parade to remember Protestant and Catholic soldiers

who fought on the same side against great evil

in two World Wars

and murdered 11- no, 12 innocent people.

- I know what happened.

But what I'm trying to say is-

- Wesley and Bertha Armstrong.

Kitchener and Jessie Johnston.

William and Agnes Mullan.

John Megaw, Georgina Quinton,

Marie Wilson, Samuel Gault, and Edward Armstrong.

Ronnie Hill died after being in a coma for 13 years.

Yes, I remember Enniskillen.

- Will you listen to me?

It was a mistake, okay?

It did irreparable damage to our cause.

When it was on the news...

They were showing the video.

They were showing... Gordon Wilson talking

about his... his poor daughter under the rubble.

And he was saying...

That he bore us no ill will.

He forgave us.

My daughter... she was only a wee tot.

She came to me and asked

why people had to kill each other.

And I said...

"It's not good to kill anyone,

but sometimes, if you believe something so strongly"...

[exhales and sobs]

And I heard myself sayin' it.

And I could see in her eyes, she was just...

horrified...

That I was trying to justify it.

And I realized, uh...

I was talking to her

as a freedom fighter, not as...

Not as a father.

And I started to think,

how would I feel

if she was under that rubble?

[voice breaks] If she was the one I had to hold

while her life ebbed away?

- Martin.

- And that's when I finally understood...

That things had to change.

We... that the killing had to stop.

- Martin.

Save me your crocodile tears.

12 people were murdered.

63 injured, including

13 of your precious children,

yet you've managed to turn it into a tragedy

about your daughter's loss of innocence?

Really? Really?

Why don't you go to those 12 grim houses

and tell them your sob story?

Tell them that you suffered too.

That it caused your side irreparable damage.

Unbelievable.

- All right, you walk away.

That's what you do.

You're like the Grand Old Duke of York.

You march 'em up to the top of the hill

and you march 'em down again.

That's what you do with hope,

you big-headed auld bigot!

- [labored breathing]

[sighs]

We need to get to the airport.

- You need to get there.

I'll be all right here.

- Sometimes my bark is worse than my bite.

- Sometimes?

- Somebody once said that the past is a foreign country.

That they-they do things differently there.

Maybe we have to learn to do things differently.

- What are you saying?

[engine turns over]

[tense instrumental music]

[♪♪]

- Is he sulking?

It looks like he's sulking.

- He feels cornered.

[♪♪]

- We're still okay for the flight, so we are.

Aren't we? - Oh, yes, sir.

[dashboard chiming]

- Quick as you can, all right? - Yes.

[machine beeping]

- Invalid card.

- Just give me one minute. I think I...

- You'd be First Minister.

I'd be Deputy.

First Minister.

Caesar.

Kaiser.

What now? - They won't take my card.

You know, the wallet in my back pocket got bent

while I was changing the tire, so...

- I'm sure if you explained the situation-

- No, he says he's not allowed.

I do hate to ask, but could I borrow your...

- [chuckles]

Do you really think any bank would trust me

with a credit card, hmm?

I get so far with the application,

and then it all goes bad

when they see "international terrorist."

How about you, big man? You step up?

- I don't use credit cards.

- Oh, right, I forgot.

Moneylenders. [grunts]

Well, I've no cash on me.

- I have a plane to catch.

- This should be interesting.

- [clears throat]

Do you know who I am?

- Hey, Donald!

There's a gentleman here who doesn't know who he is.

I'm sorry, I've been waiting my whole life to...

- Today, I have been married for exactly 50 years

to the most wonderful woman.

Tonight, I'm celebrating with her in Belfast.

There's a plane waitin' for me at Edinburgh Airport.

To get that plane, my car requires petrol.

This driver's credit card is perfectly good and valid,

yet has been rejected by your machine.

You have the power to overrule that machine

and process his payment.

I would like you to do that.

- I-I'm-I'm afraid I can't without authorization from-

- "And Jesus went into the temple of God

"and cast out them that sold

"and bought in the temple.

"He overthrew the tables of the money changers

"and the seats of them who sold doves

"and said unto them, 'It is written

"'my house shall be called the house of prayer,

"yet ye have made it a den of thieves.'

"And the blind and lame came to him in the temple

"and he healed them.

"And when the chief priests and scribes

"saw the wonderful things that he did

"and the children crying in the temple,

“Hosanna to the son of David, '

they were sore displeased!"

- Maybe if I try keyin' in the number,

it might go through this time.

- That would be appreciated.

- Thank you.

[machine beeps]

Sir, do you mind if I ask you a question?

Did you ever actually ever kill anyone yourself?

You know, pull the trigger?

- No.

It was a war.

People die in wars, on both sides.

- I just wondered how it felt to have people's deaths

on your conscience.

- Do you mean, can I sleep at night?

Yes, I sleep at night.

I'm sure you do too.

- Yes, I do.

My conscience is clear.

- Is it really?

- Never even touched a gun.

- Well, that may be.

But the fact of the matter is,

you actually started it all in the first place.

I mean, if you had joined

the civil rights marchers instead of attacking them-

- It wasn't about civil rights.

- Catholics were denied jobs, houses, votes.

- And I would have supported every man jack of them

if that was all it was about.

Do you not think I, uh-

I looked across the Atlantic and saw Martin Luther King

preaching about civil rights,

fearless and brave and determined?

- You, sir, are no Doctor-

- But they shot that great man.

And I'd have been happy for them to shoot me in that cause.

- Well, that's bollocks.

And what about Mandela?

- He was another terrorist!

- Who embraced the peace having been a bomber.

Would you refuse to shake his hand as well?

Didn't he make a giant leap?

Didn't everyone say it was impossible?

And look at him now.

The world loves him.

- The difference is, he had his people behind him.

- If you're the leader I think you are...

Your people will follow you too.

And if you don't give a damn what I think...

Let me put it another way.

If you're the leader you think you are...

Your people will follow you, no matter what.

- Oh, sorry. Mandela, eh?

He was the man.

Or maybe you're more Che Guevara.

- Jesus Christ.

- I can explain, okay?

- What the fuck is this, eh?

- Nothing, nothing. I swear, sir.

- Are you supposed to- are you supposed to kill us?

Is that it, huh'? - No, no, no, no. God, no.

- Is that what this bloody pantomime is all about?

- No, no! It's the opposite, okay?

Look, look. - Easy.

- I'm here to protect you.

- [pained gasp]

- Then why are you masquerading-

- There is nothing sinister, honestly.

They just thought that you might talk more freely

if I wasn't a government driver.

But they just put me in this bloody Scottish patter.

You think I want to be wearing this?

- [groaning]

- You Brits, you are so fucking useless.

Do you see this, big man?

- [rasping groans]

- Honest to God, we-we should just get on

with this peace deal ourselves

and-and cut these jokers out of it altogether!

Dr. Paisley?

Jesus Christ.

Hey, come on, come on. Are you okay?

What happened? Are you all right?

- [groans]

- Ian, can you hear me?

Can you hear me, Ian?

- [gasping]

[stammering] Uh, pills, I forgot...

- Pills? - Pills.

- Pills. Where-where are they?

Is that them?

Yeah? - That's it.

- Okay, okay, I got it, I got it.

Come on. How many do you need?

- Just one. - Just one?

- One tablet.

- Get some water, will you? Quick, water.

- He'll be okay.

- What if he dies?

Sorry, but what if he-

- He won't.

. Okay

You all right now? All right. All right.

We'll get you to a hospital.

- No, no. No.

I'm going home.

- What'? Listen, will you wise up?

- I-I'm going home. - No, look, look!

You keeled over.

What-what if it happens again, or-or somethin' worse?

Who do you think will get the blame for that, eh?

I'll be lynched.

- Chance would be a fine thing.

[rasping]

I'm grand.

- Okay, let's see.

How far out are they? - Just over 10 miles.

About 15 minutes in current traffic.

- And what about the plane?

- Well, it's been on the ground for 40 minutes

and getting to the end of its window.

The weather's closing in again.

[♪♪]

- Can I ask you something?

What is all this, uh...

"so you do," uh, "so it is," "so I did"?

- What do you mean?

- Well, you know, the-the words.

"So you do, so it is."

You add them at the end of a sentence.

- It's just the way we talk at home, so it is.

- It-it's an involuntary thing, so it is.

- It's almost like we don't expect to be believed, huh?

I had lunch today, so I did.

I have lunch every day. It's not unusual, so it isn't.

[both chuckling]

- [murmurs softly]

- What?

- Well, nothing, I was, uh...

I was- I-| was just thinking

about if, um, you imagine

some of the most famous men in history

had been from Northern Ireland.

Neil Armstrong.

"That's one small step for a man, so it is."

[both laughing]

- Right.

"We will fight them on the beaches, so we will."

- "I had a dream, so I had."

[both laughing]

[laughter continues]

- First Minister.

Caesar.

Kaiser.

- We say never!

[echoing] Never! Never!

Pull off the road.

- Sir?

- Pull off the road. [stammers] Stop the car.

- Cutting it pretty fine as it is, but...

- Are you okay?

- Just stop the car when you can

as soon as you can, please!

If you can.

[turn signal clicking]

- What are they-what are they doing? What are they-

[thunder rumbling]

- I'd better go with him.

- Stained glass martyrs. I saw them when I passed out.

They've shaped my life. They've guided me in everything.

I stood in defense of Ulster and against the papish plots.

I put myself in the firing line,

and I thought that that was my sacrifice,

that that would be my martyrdom.

And yet, I was never touched, never harmed.

No hand was laid upon me.

No assassin's bullet sought me out.

I've lain in a hospital bed at death's door

and yet he would not let me go.

And now, now...

history contrives to put me here with you!

My mortal enemy!

And I have to ask myself if-if he has a reason.

Why here?

Why you'? Why now?

Why would he ask me to shake hands

with a man like you

when there has been such incredible violence?

- Because that man has changed.

- How could I ever know that it's not an act?

A Charade?

A bluff? A ploy? A... - Listen to me!

You've no reason to trust me, and I've no reason to trust you,

but we need a leap of faith,

and you are all about faith.

If you follow your logic,

if-if God has put you here with me,

then he either means you to kiss me or kill me,

and, "Thou shalt not kill."

- Don't quote scriptures at me!

What's to say you're not his final test?

You're Satan in the Judean desert

tempting me with power!

- Well, I am tempting you with power.

Ian, you like to be the big man in the big picture,

and don't deny it.

And you will be that man and for the right reasons.

It is all about your martyrs,

but you-you just have 'em all wrong.

- What do you know about...

- You have been all about protecting your past,

your-your precious culture.

That's not what they were doing.

They weren't interested in the past.

They were interested in the future.

They were going against the grain, not with it.

Ian, the true sacrifice

is in doing exactly the opposite

of what you have promised your people.

Accepting that you may burn for it.

That's your blessed martyrdom.

[wind whistling]

- You are the devil.

[tense percussive tones]

[♪♪]

[dramatic music]

[♪♪]

[jet engines whirring]

[woman speaking indistinctly over PA]

[♪♪]

- Would you like me to give you a minute?

- Thank you.

- When did you realize what he was?

- From the moment he opened his mouth.

- How did you know?

- Because I'm not naive.

And also because he claimed never to have heard of me.

Everyone's heard of me.

[both laugh]

- Aye, that's a fact.

So...

Here we are.

- You are right...

About the martyrs.

I'm an old man now.

Old men can afford to be bold.

Oh, what a joy it would be to walk up those steps,

to see a true man of God sworn in as First Minister.

But the caveat is, I have to do it

with you at my side.

And we could do this now.

I could offer my hand and we could seal the peace.

But first, I have to ask you to do something.

I know that you would never do this in public.

But here, in private...

I would like you to apologize.

' Apologize?

- I would like you to apologize...

for all the deaths your people have caused,

for the ethnic cleansing you've inspired,

for the innocents your people have murdered,

for the bombs that have devastated families,

for the bullets that have killed

sons and daughters, fathers and mothers.

I want you to say sorry.

For that, we get peace.

- Just... say it.

- Ian Paisley, you have run me round in circles today.

And maybe that's what this is all about.

You always intended to go one way or the other.

But you just wanted your moment.

The moment where you had me in a corner,

knowing that if I went down on bended knee,

I would always be on bended knee.

You just wanted the satisfaction of that.

And I could do it.

But what would it really mean?

Because you know

I play a long game.

And no matter what we agree here today...

It will change.

It will have to change, because we are Ireland.

We are inevitable.

So it should be no skin off my nose

if here, in private, I say sorry

for all that's gone before,

and then I get exactly what I came for.

But I will not do it.

It would be a betrayal of everything I stand for.

We had a civil war.

And this is our only opportunity for both sides

to walk away with heads held high,

to build something that will last

at least for our lifetimes.

So...

I apologize for nothing.

- That's a true politician.

Never apologize.

[both laugh]

I despise everything you have done, so I do.

- I despise everything you stand for, so I do.

[both chuckle]

- Bloody hell.

They've done it.

They've bloody done it!

[laughter]

- Well done, sir.

[indistinct radio chatter]

- Oh, that, uh...

That deer.

That was an accident, right?

- No.

We have highly trained wildlife.

- Hmm.

- Sir, would you care for a biscuit?

- Do you have any wee plain ones?

[both laugh]

[engines whirring]

[soft instrumental music]

[♪♪]

["Are You Getting Through" by Glen Hansard]

- ♪ Are you getting through ♪

♪ Are you breathing ♪

♪ Is there someone looking out for you ♪

♪ When you need them to ♪

♪ Are you shutting down ♪

♪ Are you listening ♪

♪ Still giving us the runaround ♪

♪ What am I missing ♪

♪ Are you gettin' through ♪

♪ 'Cause I need you to ♪

♪ Oh, we been blind, blind ♪

♪ Watching for the blood ties ♪

♪ Rising for the good fight ♪

♪ And losing by degrees ♪

♪ Oh, we been gone, gone ♪

♪ Crossing swords for so long ♪

♪ Singing out our soldiers' song ♪

♪ And living on our knees ♪

♪ Are you giving UP T

♪ Are you quitting ♪

♪ Come on, I know you're strong enough ♪

♪ More than you're admitting ♪

♪ Are you breaking down ♪

♪ Is it over ♪

♪ Man, you should be laughin' now ♪

♪ Rolling in the clover ♪

♪ Are you getting through ♪

♪ Well, I hope you do ♪

♪ And keep believing in those hidden hands ♪

♪ Looking out for you ♪

♪ Is it getting clear ♪

♪ Are we even near ♪

♪ Raise your voice up now ♪

♪ We still believe in what we hear ♪

♪ Are we getting through ♪

♪ Oh, we been blind, blind ♪

♪ Watching for the blood ties ♪

♪ Staring across the great divide ♪

♪ And dying by degrees ♪

♪ Oh, we been gone, gone ♪

♪ Crossing swords for so long ♪

♪ Singin' out our soldiers' song ♪

♪ Livin' on our knees ♪

♪ Oh, we been blind, blind ♪

♪ Watching for the blood ties ♪

♪ Rising for the good fight ♪

♪ Losing by degrees ♪

♪ Oh, we been gone, gone ♪

♪ Crossing swords for so long ♪

♪ Marching to the fife and drum ♪

♪ And living on our knees ♪

♪ Put your back to the wheel ♪

♪ Na Na Na Na Na Na Na ♪

♪ Come on and tell them how you feel ♪

♪ Put your strength and your will to the plow ♪

♪ Ah, we could really use you now ♪

♪ Choose your words and your prophets with care ♪

♪ Come on you know we're nearly there ♪

♪ Put your back to the wheel ♪

♪ Are you getting through ♪

♪ Are you breathin' ♪

♪ Is there someone lookin' out for you ♪

♪ When you need them to ♪

[♪♪]