Unquiet Graves

Unquiet Graves was filmed in Dolby Surround 7.1 in a 16:9 ratio. The film was based on work by the Pat Finucane Centre, Justice for the Forgotten and Anne Cadwallader's book Lethal Allies.{{Cite news|url=https://www.balls.ie/the-rewind/unquiet-graves-447580|title=Unquiet Graves Is The Documentary Everyone Will Be Talking About Tonight|first=Paul|last=Moore|website=Balls.ie}} John Weir was a major contributor. Northern Ireland Screen contributed £5,000 to the production. In response to questions about the funding of the film, Murray stated that "The film was a socially committed project and most of the crew who assisted in the making of the film done so on a voluntary basis, including myself."{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/rte-silent-over-source-funding-glenanne-killers-documentary-unquiet-graves-2985999|title=RTE silent over source of funding for Glenanne killers documentary Unquiet Graves|website=Newsletter.co.uk|date=28 September 2020 }}

Unquiet Graves discusses the activities of the Glenanne gang of the paramilitary Ulster Volunteer Force, with the support and collusion of soldiers from the Ulster Defence Regiment and police officers from the Royal Ulster Constabulary, in Northern Ireland's Counties Tyrone and Armagh between 1972 and 1978.{{Cite web|url=https://belfastfilmfestival.org/films/unquiet-grave|title=Unquiet Graves|website=Belfastfilmfestival.org}} They are accused of the murder of 120 Irish Catholic civilians in that period.{{Cite web|url=https://ifi.ie/unquiet-graves-irish-focus/|title=UNQUIET GRAVES (IRISH FOCUS)|website=Ifi.ie|access-date=5 November 2021}}{{Cite web|url=https://regionalculturalcentre.com/event/unquiet-graves-documentary-film-screening/|title=Unquiet Graves (Documentary Film Screening)|website=Regionalculturalcentre.com|access-date=5 November 2021}}

One of the most notable claims in the film is that the UVF considered carrying out a massacre at a Catholic parochial school in Belleeks in retaliation for the 1976 Kingsmill massacre; supposedly, the idea for the attack came from British military intelligence, who wanted violence in Northern Ireland to "spiral out of control" in order to justify a severe military response, a "short and sharp process of cleansing out the IRA."{{Cite web|url=https://scannain.com/irish/unquiet-graves-premiere-belfast/|title = Sean Murray's Unquiet Graves to premiere in Belfast on February 21st|website=Scannain.com|date = 20 February 2019}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/ireland/irish-news/british-intelligence-tried-to-get-uvf-to-shoot-up-a-school-documentary-claims-1.3800302|title=British intelligence tried to get UVF to 'shoot up a school', documentary claims|first=Gerry|last=Moriarty|newspaper=The Irish Times}}

Unquiet Graves premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh at the Town Hall Theatre on 11 July 2018.{{cite web|url=https://www.galwayfilmfleadh.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2018-gff-programme.pdf|title=30th Galway Film Fleadh : 10-15 July 2018|website=Galwayfilmfleadh.com|access-date=5 November 2021}}

The film had its pre-release premiere in Belfast on 21 February 2019.

The film came to wider public attention when it was aired on the Republic of Ireland state broadcaster, RTÉ One, on 16 September 2020.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thejournal.ie/explainer-unquiet-graves-documentary-5214373-Sep2020/|title=The Explainer Interview: The story of Unquiet Graves with filmmaker Seán Murray|first=Sinead|last=O'Carroll|website=TheJournal.ie|date=25 September 2020 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.balls.ie/the-rewind/unquiet-graves-reaction-448146|title=Viewers Were Blown Away And Furious Watching 'Unquiet Graves' Last Night|first=Balls|last=Team|website=Balls.ie|date=17 September 2020 }}

Writing in The Canary, Peadar O'Cearnaigh said that the Troubles was "seen as a local dispute involving only the Irish. The British were just honest brokers and tried to make peace between these two tribes. That mythical description is put to bed in Unquiet Graves. The documentary sets about uncovering the dangerous and one-sided role played by the British state in the Irish conflict."{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecanary.co/uk/2018/11/09/unquiet-graves-a-documentary-exposing-britains-dirty-war-in-ireland/|title=Unquiet Graves: a documentary exposing Britain's dirty war in Ireland|date=November 9, 2018|website=Thecanary.co}}

Charles Flanagan, a Fine Gael TD and former Republic of Ireland Minister for Justice and Equality, attacked the film, saying that he "did not believe the documentary was objective, fair minded and balanced and questioned if RTE bosses were aware of how it was funded."{{Cite news|url=https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/unquiet-graves-td-flanagan-writes-to-rte-about-dubious-documentary-on-glenanne-gang-39579029.html|title=Unquiet Graves: TD Charlie Flanagan writes to RTE about 'dubious' documentary on Glenanne Gang|newspaper=Belfast Telegraph}} In response, Margaret Urwin, Coordinator at Justice for the Forgotten, said that Flanagan "claims the basis of the film was John Weir’s affidavit and claims that his motives were dubious. That is totally erroneous. […] The film is actually based on the book entitled Lethal Allies […] a very important witness in the film was Steve Morris who led a team within the Historical Enquiries Team at the PSNI and he was also a former police officer with the London Met. […] the late Justice Barron who carried out four investigations in the early 2000s on behalf of the [Republic of Ireland] Government found that John Weir’s testimony was credible – as did the Gardaí."{{Cite web|url=https://www.newstalk.com/news/producers-loyalist-gang-flanagan-1089290|title=Producers of film on Loyalist murder gang slam Flanagan over criticism|first=Michael|last=Staines|website=Newstalk.com}}

Writing for The News Letter, Mark Rainey noted that the film's creator Seán A. Murray, was the son of Sean Murray, a longtime republican activist alleged to be a senior figure in the Provisional IRA.{{Cite web|url=https://www.newsletter.co.uk/news/crime/rte-defends-unquiet-graves-decision-amid-mounting-criticism-2991387|title=RTE defends Unquiet Graves decision amid mounting criticism|website=Newsletter.co.uk|date=2 October 2020 }}

In reply, Murray instructed solicitors and prepared a libel case.{{Cite web|url=https://www.irishlegal.com/article/documentary-filmmaker-instructs-muirigh-solicitors-over-smear-campaign|title=NI: Documentary filmmaker instructs Ó Muirigh Solicitors over 'smear campaign'|first=Irish Legal|last=News|website=Irishlegal.com|date=6 October 2020 }} Regarding Weir, he wrote that "The independent panel of academic experts and a judge-led Oireachtas inquiry into the 'Glenanne Series' of attacks found corroborating evidence for Weir's testimony in RUC files on no fewer than 11 murders."{{Cite web|url=https://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/director-responds-to-unquiet-graves-criticism-39585895.html|title=Director responds to 'Unquiet Graves' criticism|website=Independent.ie|date=4 October 2020 }}

Former IRA explosives expert and London bomber, Shane Paul O'Doherty, posted a blog examining whether Unquiet Graves might be regarded as either balanced film-making or IRA propaganda.{{Cite web |last=O'Doherty |first=Shane Paul |date=2021-11-01 |title=Seán Murray – Unquiet Graves – Balanced Filmmaking or IRA Propaganda? |url=https://irishpeaceprocess.blog/2021/11/01/sean-murray-unquiet-graves-balanced-filmmaking-or-ira-propaganda/ |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=The Irish Peace Process}} In the blog post, O'Doherty highlighted that Murray had not warned viewers that one of his central researchers and commentators, Paul O'Connor, had hidden his IRA past for decades while posing as a Human Rights activist and Director of the Pat Finucane Centre.{{Cite news |last=O'Doherty |first=Shane Paul |date=2019-11-18 |title=Paul O'Connor, Director of the Pat Finucane Centre, IRA Volunteer |url=https://irishpeaceprocess.blog/2019/11/18/paul-oconnor-director-of-the-pat-finucane-centre-ira-volunteer/ |access-date=2022-09-26 |website=The Irish Peace Process}} O'Doherty claimed that Paul O'Connor was a former IRA gunman and bomber who was involved in the murder of an IRA volunteer, Jim O'Hagan. O'Doherty pointed out several other factual errors in Unquiet Graves, rendering a final opinion that Unquiet Graves could justifiably be seen as IRA propaganda in light of the evidence contained in his blog post considered alongside Murray's extreme political views and his failure to record details of the IRA's 800 murders during the period covered by his documentary.

Within days of O'Doherty's post, O'Connor was forced to publicly admit his IRA past and the accuracy of many of O'Doherty's blog claims.{{Cite news |last=McKinney |first=Seamus |date=2019-11-23 |title=Prominent human rights campaigner Paul O'Connor admits he was a teenage IRA recruit |pages=1 |work=The Irish News |url=https://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2019/11/23/news/prominent-human-rights-campaigner-paul-o-connor-admits-he-was-a-teenage-ira-recruit-1773091/ |access-date=2022-09-26}}

{{Reflist}}

• {{Official website|unquietgraves.com}}
• {{IMDb title | id=5236920 }}
• {{Rotten Tomatoes |m/unquiet_graves}}

Category:2018 films

Category:Films from Northern Ireland

Category:British documentary films

Category:2018 documentary films

Category:Films about The Troubles (Northern Ireland)

Category:2010s English-language films

Category:2010s British films

Category:English-language documentary films