In 1971, a young and disoriented British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a riot on the deadly streets of Belfast.
A young British soldier is accidentally abandoned by his unit following a terrifying riot on the streets of Belfast in 1971. Unable to tell friend from foe, the raw recruit must survive the night alone and find his way to safety through a disorienting, alien and deadly landscape.
1971. Instead of being sent to Germany after the completion of basic training as they expect, Private Gary Hook and the rest of his regiment with the British Army are deployed early to Belfast, Northern Ireland, where tensions are rising between the Protestant Loyalists and the Catholic Republicans, the latter militarized under the Irish Republican Army (IRA). The regiment's task is largely to maintain the peace within the conflict while the local police do their job related to the conflict. Much of the populace, especially on the Catholic side, will not be happy to see the British Army intervention. While the regiment is dealing with a situation in Belfast that has the potential to escalate into a full blown riot, Hook, due to a specific incident within the situation, is separated from the rest of the regiment. He has to try to make his way back to the barracks on his own, which will be difficult as he doesn't have his bearings within the neighborhood, and as he knows a few young men in particular, they with the Provisional IRA, will shoot to kill him, those within the provisional army who are younger, and generally more willing to take extreme measures for the cause in their inexperience. In the process, Hook will find that many are caught in the middle in some form or another, some who do not believe in the conflict or the potential loss of life regardless of which side they fall on, and some who, despite their official positions, may take what may seem on the surface to be uncharacteristic measures, which may help or hinder Hook, all for their self-serving motives.—Huggo
Gary Hook (Jack O'Connell), a new recruit to the British Army, takes leave of his much younger brother Darren (Harry Verity) before his operational deployment. Darren lives in an orphanage and Gary is all he has. Gary is very close to Darren but has to join the army to earn a living.Hook is put through a grueling training regime in the barracks. The training focuses on the value of teamwork and not to leave any man of the regiment behind.
Hook's squad of British soldiers is sent to Belfast in 1971 in the early years of The Troubles. Upon arrival the squad is given a briefing the various units operating in Belfast, including the MRF. Under the leadership of the inexperienced Lieutenant Armitage (Sam Reid), his squad goes to a volatile area of Belfast where Catholic Nationalists and Protestant Loyalists live side by side. Armitage has also been recently deployed to Belfast.The Catholics and Protestants are at war & the British army has been called in to maintain peace. The Catholics are hostile to the British army, while the Protestants are loyal to the British crown. The unit provides support for the Royal Ulster Constabulary as it inspects Catholic homes for firearms, shocking Hook with their rough treatment of women and children. The Catholic neighborhood (where all street signs have been removed) has been alerted to the activity and a crowd gathers to protest and provoke the British troops who, though heavily armed, can only respond by trying to hold the crowd back. Soon, the crowd starts pelting the British forces with stones. The crowd includes your children as well as old people.
One soldier is hit by a rock and drops his gun on the ground in the confusion and a young boy runs off through the mob with it; Hook and another soldier pursue him. As the crowd's protest escalates, the soldiers and police pull out, leaving the two soldiers behind.Hook and the other soldier are briefly rescued by a sympathetic woman who fails to hold back a small crowd who are beating them. Hook sees the other soldier shot dead at point blank range by the young Nationalist Paul Haggerty (Martin McCann) and Sean. With the crowd physically engaging Haggerty, Hook flees through streets and back alleys (during the pursuit, Hook is shot at repeatedly, but manages to evade all shots taken at him), finally eluding his pursuers and hiding until dark. While hiding Hook finds some civilian clothes & ditches his military fatigues. The British army discovers the other soldier's body during a night patrol. The nationalists now have both their rifles.
A Protestant youngster (who recognizes Hook as a soldier from his combat boots) brings Hook to a local pub that serves as a front for the Loyalists, where he glimpses a Loyalist group in a back room constructing a bomb under the guidance of the Military Reaction Force (MRF), the covert counter-insurgency unit of the British Army which contains Sergeant Leslie Lewis (Paul Anderson) & Captain Browning (Sean Harris). Browning takes Hook's dog tags and asks him to wait outside the pub.Hook steps outside the pub just before an enormous explosion destroys the building. Hook flees once more into the dark streets. Unaware that the Loyalists have blown themselves up, each of the two IRA factions charges the other with responsibility for the bombing. The mature IRA faction is less radical and more open for alternate modes of dialogue, while the younger IRA faction is much more prone to violence.Hook is completely disoriented as he wanders around aimlessly after the blast, eventually falling unconscious in the streets. Hook is badly injured because of the blast and is bleeding profusely.
Two Catholics, Eamon (Richard Dormer) and his daughter Brigid (Charlie Murphy), discover Hook as he lies unconscious in the street. They take him to their apartment and, even though they discover he is a British soldier (from his boots and under garments), Eamon stitches his wounds without any painkillers or anesthesia, which causes great pain and discomfort to Hook.Meanwhile Armitage confronts Browning and wants to know why the MRF is not looking for Hook already. Armitage alleges that MRF is in cahoots with the IRA and hence must already know where they would have kept Hook.
Eamon contacts Boyle (David Wilmot), a senior IRA official, for help, expecting a more humane solution than the younger IRA faction would allow. Boyle, less radical and less violent than younger IRA members, has a working relationship with the MRF. He tells MRF Captain Browning, leader of the British MRF section, of Hook's whereabouts and asks in return that Browning assassinate James Quinn (Killian Scott), a key leader of the younger IRA faction.
Quinn and his IRA squad have been tailing Boyle since the pub explosion and saw him visit Eamon's apartment without knowing why he was there. Sensing danger, Hook flees the apartment, taking with him a sheathed blade. Moving painfully through the apartment complex halls and stairways, he eludes the IRA men who have separated to search for him. Finally, unable to get away from Haggerty, who is about to come around a corner and discover him, Hook stabs him. As the wounded man lies dying, Hook reaches down and grasps his shoulder, sharing strength and sympathy as they hold each other's gaze, and the IRA man dies.
Hook is captured by Quinn's group and taken to a hideout. Quinn orders Sean (Barry Keoghan), a young teen whom Quinn has recruited, to execute Hook. When Sean hesitates, Quinn prepares to execute Hook. Browning's group arrives, and Lewis, to Hook's horror, shoots Sean. Lewis attempts to strangle Hook to prevent him from informing others of the bomb or the MRF involvement with the IRA.As Lieutenant Armitage and his men enter in support of Browning, Armitage sees Lewis' attempt to kill Hook. Sean raises himself and fires at Lewis before being shot by Armitage. Browning finds Quinn and, rather than arrest him, tells him Boyle wants him dead. He promises to contact him soon, telling him he expects him to prove to be reasonable.
Hook returns to his barracks. Later, despite a formal complaint by Armitage, the officer in charge dismisses the incident between Hook, Lewis, and Sean as a confused situation that merits no further inquiry. Hook returns to England and reunites with Darren.
