Source Material
Excerpts from the Script:
Outside the prison gate
Annie
Suppose you wonder what I'm doing standing out here in the middle of nowhere?
JULIE
Hmmmmm. You're waiting on someone and then you're going into the prison?
Annie puts her hand to her head.
Annie
And here's me thinking it's all still a big wind up.
JULIE
What?
Annie
Being able to visit Long Kesh. I didn't know you could do it. It was my daughter, Theresa told me. 'You just have to phone up mammy and book a visit' she said. I couldn't believe her. OK, the prisoners have gone home years ago, but the prison just lying open?
Julie laughs.
Julie
So you gave them a call and here you are.
[...]
Robert, the former prison guard, and Julie, the researcher, are touring the prison
JULIE
They're going to preserve part of it aren't they? Part of the original prison?
ROBERT
Well, points up what I was saying about them making a mess of things doesn't it? Wouldn't have happened if the NIO had been involved. Place should be demolished in its entirety. Every last single bit of it.
JULIE
But what of its historic significance?
ROBERT
It's a prison, Julie. Nothing more than that. It should be bull-dozed into history. That's your field of study isn't it? History?
JULIE
Modern Irish history... though sometimes I don't know where the 'modern' bit begins. You go to study something then find you have to go back and look at what happened before that and why and who and... It's fascinating. And time-consuming.
ROBERT
Tell me Julie, is it just a personal interest or are you hoping to make a career out of it?
[...]
Annie and Theresa, the mother and sister of a former prisoner are touring as well
THERESA
Gerard said he used to pace the floor during the protest. 5 steps forward and 5 steps back. He'd do that for up to 10 hours a day.
ANNIE
My God.
THERESA
He said it was his way to get out of the cell. He'd be away off in some imaginary world, traveling, talking with people, at home with us, discussing the news or whatever.
Theresa looks around the cell.
THERESA
These cells were meant to be the Breaker's Yard... but a group of teenagers changed the course of history.
Annie
Where there's a will there's a way. (Annie looks closer at the cell wall) Look, you can see writing scratched into the wall. What does it say? I need my glasses.
Theresa leans forward .
THERESA
It's Irish. Beidh an bua againn. We will have the victory.
Annie shakes her head.
Annie
Can you just imagine someone standing here barefoot with only a blanket on him writing that.
THERESA
And in Irish.
Annie
Probably wrote during one of their classes. Sanna Walsh was Gerard's teacher you know.
THERESA
Was he?
Annie
Gerard said when they later got grammar books in and checked them everything Sanna had taught during the blanket was exact. Spellings and all. So don't let anyone tell you the Long Kesh Irish is anything less than what others have.
