Brilliant film, well researched and written down to fine subtleties such as the Loyalists using an outdated language style once employed by upper-class British in the early part of the 20th century ("eh, what?"), this showing an outdated loyalty to a country who couldn't care less for them. Be all this as it may, greenfielding began in the early 21st century and today the joint government of Loyalists and Republicans have made valiant strides towards reconciliation between the two cultures who dress the same, speak the same (for the most part), eat the same food and breathe the same air. The vast majority of Irish on both sides of the border want peace and have always wanted peace. There will always be those misinformed about what is happening there, such as the girl in this film. She swam in her academic Irish studies and stories from her nostalgic grandfather. Neither source gave her the information she needed to understand the situation as it actually was in 1993.
In late 1993, the British and Irish governments looked at the situation and realised that the conditions were now right to begin a new peace process. For the first time ever, all the terrorist groups had political representatives who were prepared to negotiate. The people of Northern Ireland had endured 24 years of violence and there was growing feeling that something had to be done to end it once and for all. So the two governments met and, on 15 December 1993, announced their mutual positions on Northern Ireland which they hoped would be the basis for future negotiations. Called the Downing Street Declaration, it committed both governments to developing new political frameworks and permitting any party that gave up violence to join talks. The UK declared that they had "no selfish, strategic or economic interest in Northern Ireland," accepted that a united Ireland was possible if a majority so desired and promised to work towards an agreement. The Irish agreed that a united Ireland could only happen with majority consent and would set up a Forum for Peace and Reconciliation. This declaration angered the extreme Unionists, who accused the UK of selling off Ulster.
This is the reality of the political climate when this young woman went to Ireland to fight for freedom. She found extremists on all sides, including within the UK's SAS, an official special forces unit.