Sunday Bloody Sunday (film) Schlesinger's previous film "Midnight Cowboy" (1969), which portrayed its gay characters as alienated and self-loathing, as well as other gay-themed films of the era, including "Boys in the Band" (1970) and "Some of My Best Friends Are..." (1971). The film was released a year before the 1972 massacre of unarmed Northern Irish civilians by the British Army in Derry, Northern Ireland, an event dubbed "Bloody Sunday". Set in London, the film tells the story of a middle-aged Jewish doctor, Daniel Hirsh (Peter Finch), and a divorced woman in her mid-30s, Alex Greville (Glenda Jackson), who are both involved in an
Bloody Sunday (1972) Troubles" because a large number of civilians were killed, by forces of the state, in full view of the public and the press. It was the highest number of people killed in a single shooting incident during the conflict. Bloody Sunday increased Catholic and Irish nationalist hostility towards the British Army and exacerbated the conflict. Support for the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) rose and there was a surge of recruitment into the organisation, especially locally. The City of Derry was perceived by many Catholics and Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland to be the epitome of what was described as