Nothing Personal (1995)

nothing personalNothing Personal is a joint British-Irish motion picture, directed by Thaddeus O’Sullivan and released in 1995. It stars Ian Hart as Ginger, John Lynch as Liam, James Frain as Kenny and Michael Gambon as Leonard. Nothing Personal was written by Belfast-born novelist and playwright Daniel Mornin. The son of a Protestant industrial worker, Mornin served in the British Royal Navy before studying English, literature and theatre. He became a successful writer in the 1980s, his works often focusing on the nature of violence or underpinned by political themes. Mornin’s 1991 novel All Our Fault depicts the random kidnapping of a Catholic man by Loyalist thugs in the first weeks of the Troubles. Nothing Personal covers similar ground, depicting a group of Loyalist paramilitaries in 1975 Belfast.

Nothing Personal depicts a 24-hour period in Belfast in 1975. The IRA bomb a pub in a Protestant area of the city, killing several people. An outraged Loyalist gang retaliates by killing and mutilating a man leaving a Catholic pub. Loyalist commander Leonard, who is negotiating a truce with the Provisional IRA and doesn’t want the situation to escalate, wants to prevent further attacks on civilians. Leonard is particularly concerned about Ginger, a violent psychopath loosely based on Lenny Murphy and the Shankill butchers. Ginger revels in killing and demonstrates a primal hatred of Catholics, calling them “fucking vermin”. Leonard asks Kenny, a charismatic gang leader, to rein in Ginger. When he is unable to do this Leonard takes desperate action, calling in the British army to dispense with one of his own.

Given that most Troubles-related films focus on the IRA, Nothing Personal’s attention to Loyalists is both unusual and welcome. Those depicted are a diverse bunch. Leonard is a careful strategist concerned with the bigger picture; Kenny is a true believer in the Loyalist cause; Ginger is a murderous thug driven by bigotry and bloodlust. Both the Loyalists and the IRA are portrayed as rival criminal gangs, more than political armies at war; their leaders demonstrate a strange working relationship and an unwritten set of rules about who or what is a valid target. As a representation of the Troubles, Nothing Personal explores the culture of violence that permeated extremist groups and shaped their young male volunteers.


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This page was written by Jennifer Llewellyn and Steve Thompson. To reference this page, use the following citation:
J. Llewellyn and S. Thompson, “Nothing Personal (1995)”, Alpha History, accessed [today’s date], https://alphahistory.com/northernireland/nothing-personal-1995/.