---
title: "'71"
year: 2014
kind: "film"
canonical: "https://film.one/film/71"
fi1m_score: 82
critics_score: 79
critics_reviews: 28
published: "2026-09-17T08:02:42.826933+00:00"
updated: "2026-09-17T08:02:58.019597+00:00"
region: "US"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# '71 (2014)

Directed by Yann Demange · 1h 39m · Thriller, Action, Drama, War

**Fi1m score: 82** · Critics 79 from 28 reviews

*In a sentence:* A British army uniform is remarkably little comfort when the men who came with it are nowhere in sight

> Yann Demange makes a gripping Belfast survival thriller, with Jack O’Connell giving its violence a frightened human centre. The plotting grows too convenient, but the action is clear, punishing and worth the strain.

## Synopsis

Belfast, 1971. Young British soldier Gary Hook (Jack O’Connell) is separated from his unit during a street riot. He needs to get back to the army, but he cannot tell who might help him and who might want him caught. Lt. Armitage (Sam Reid) and Captain Sandy Browning (Sean Harris) are among the military men operating in the city. Around the Falls Road, soldiers and civilians are caught up in the disorder. Hook faces unfamiliar streets and divided loyalties, with no reliable guide through either.

## Review

*’71* takes a young soldier’s immediate problem seriously: he has lost his unit in Belfast and needs to get back alive. Yann Demange makes an absorbing survival thriller from that predicament, despite some forced plotting in Gregory Burke’s script. At 99 minutes, the film has enough time to make Hook’s fear matter without letting the chase slacken. Its interest in the Troubles begins with what a novice soldier cannot understand while trying to stay alive.

Jack O’Connell gives Gary Hook the physical presence an action lead needs, then refuses to make that presence reassuring. He seems young enough to expect somebody else to know what to do, and frightened enough to realise that nobody may. The performance makes bewilderment legible without turning Hook into a helpless spectator. That uncertainty keeps us close to him through stretches when explanation would only get in the way.

The riot is the clearest demonstration of how carefully the action has been organised. We were frightened for Hook, because the movement of the crowd makes losing the other soldiers seem horribly easy. Tat Radcliffe’s handheld photography puts us inside the disorder without making every movement equally unreadable. Chris Wyatt’s editing gives the pursuit an urgent pace while preserving enough sense of where bodies are for danger to register. The sequence needs us to understand how quickly a military operation can come apart, and the camera and cutting make that collapse convincing.

Chris Oddy’s production design does useful work in the recreation of the Falls Road, giving the pursuit a specific place and period. The streets feel inhabited even when our attention is fixed on the next possible threat. David Holmes supplies a pulsing score that sustains the pressure without making Hook’s predicament sound heroic. Between the music and the street setting, the film can become almost nightmarish without entirely abandoning the feel of a recognisable city.

The military men around Hook are well served by Sam Reid as Lt. Armitage and Sean Harris as Captain Sandy Browning. Both performances suggest that rank offers a poor guide to how much someone understands or how safely they can be trusted. Gregory Burke also makes room for divided loyalties and competing interests, so the danger cannot simply be sorted into two opposing camps. There is enough here to complicate a chase thriller, although the film leaves much of the conflict unexplored.

The difficulty comes when those competing interests require more plotting than the film can comfortably support. Some of the undercover strands feel arranged to demonstrate cynicism, and we become aware of the writer moving people into position. We need not describe where they lead to say that the pursuit is more convincing before these complications accumulate. This is a limited but noticeable weakness in a film whose physical dangers usually need so little explanation.

Within the stranded-soldier thriller, the achievement is how firmly the film keeps vulnerability in view. It delivers the speed and suspense the form promises without treating Hook’s predicament as a chance for him to prove himself. We keep watching because we want this frightened young man to get out of danger. Give it your full attention; keeping track of who wants what requires more effort than following the chases.

*Fi1m score 82, published 17 September 2026.*

## What the critics say

Most critics find ’71 a tense, assured survival thriller, with praise concentrated on Yann Demange’s staging and Jack O’Connell’s performance as a young British soldier stranded in Belfast. The reviews repeatedly credit O’Connell with making the soldier’s fear and bewilderment convincing. The riot and chase sequences draw particular admiration, while the cinematography, editing and period detail make the confusion feel immediate without sacrificing suspense.

The spread runs from enthusiastic to mixed, with no outright negative reviews. Reservations centre on contrived plotting, thin characterisation and a final stretch that several critics find less convincing than the pursuit itself. Political depth is the main dividing point: Slant Magazine praises the attention to moral and political ambiguity, while Sight and Sound finds limited dramatic insight beneath the intensity. Time Out admires the tension but argues that the script accommodates too many divisions and opinions without sufficiently developing its characters.

### Reviews we read (28)

- **Empire**, Nev Pierce (90/100, inferred): The film is a tense, gripping thriller about a young British soldier stranded in 1971 Belfast. Demange's direction and O'Connell's performance as a bewildered survivor stand out for their intensity and integrity. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/71-review/)
- **Los Angeles Times**, Kenneth Turan (90/100, inferred): The critic calls it an incendiary film that joins physical intensity, emotional authenticity and political acuity into a tense thriller. Demange's direction and the lead performance by Jack O'Connell are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-et-mn-71-review-20150227-column.html)
- **The Hollywood Reporter**, Leslie Felperin (90/100, inferred): This muscular feature debut from Yann Demange is an outstanding urban thriller and war movie set during the Troubles, with subtle performances, splendid cinematography, and fine period detail that highlight the brutality and moral ambiguities on all sides. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/71-berlin-review-678211/)
- **The New York Times**, Manohla Dargis (NYT Critic’s Pick): The critic praises the film as an excitingly jumpy, finely calibrated chase movie about a British soldier caught behind enemy lines. Demange's talent for elegantly deployed action and complex choreography of bodies in space is singled out. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/27/movies/review-in-71-young-green-and-behind-enemy-lines.html)
- **Variety** (90/100, inferred): The review describes it as a vivid, shivery survival thriller that turns Belfast streets into a war zone of peril. Jack O'Connell's galvanizing performance and the unstinting filmmaking are singled out. [Read](https://variety.com/2014/film/features/berlin-film-review-71-1201090449/)
- **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (85/100, inferred): The critic highlights Jack O'Connell's mesmerising performance as the young soldier lost in Belfast's chaos and praises the film's muscular, moody atmosphere blending historical realism with post-apocalyptic dreamscapes. Strong ensemble work, especially from Sean Harris and Sam Reid, plus an effective score and sound design, elevate the taut thriller. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/oct/12/71-review-muscular-moody-belfast-thriller)
- **The AV Club**, Mike D'Angelo (B+): Demange’s accomplished debut captures the chaos and terror of 1971 Belfast with harrowing intensity and first-rate suspense as a young British soldier is separated from his unit, though it falters in the final third with cheap cynicism. [Read](https://www.avclub.com/71-was-a-dangerous-year-to-roam-the-streets-of-belfast-1798182995)
- **Little White Lies**, Adam Woodward (4/4/3): Jack O’Connell continues to impress in this authentically gritty, compelling take on the Troubles as a young soldier navigates a harrowing night behind enemy lines. Strong on tension and the personal cost of war, it stumbles at the end with tacked-on elements. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/71)
- **Radio Times**, Leslie Felperin (4/5): This superbly crafted war-zone thriller captures the confusion, bigotry and riven loyalties of the conflict in a neat dramatic microcosm, delivering an extraordinarily tense adventure story with an excellent lead performance. [Read](https://www.radiotimes.com/movie-guide/b-phm7x9/71/)
- **Screen Daily** (80/100, inferred): A tense and exciting action-drama and remarkably assured feature debut that focuses on the horrors faced by a teen soldier rather than tackling the sectarian divide head-on. Visceral tension in the chase sequences and intriguingly complex supporting characters are highlighted. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/71/5066348.article)
- **Vulture**, David Edelstein (80/100, inferred): Jack O’Connell delivers a riveting performance as a novice soldier thrust into terror in Belfast, anchoring a blistering thriller that exposes the betrayals and political expediency of the Troubles even if it doesn’t always cohere. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2015/02/movie-review-jack-oconnell-stars-in-71.html)
- **Slant Magazine**, Kenji Fujishima (3/4): Demange’s debut distinguishes itself through close attention to political and moral ambiguities rather than pure visceral chaos, functioning as both a character drama of lost innocence and an effective action thriller with a clear-eyed perspective. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/seventy-one/)
- **Film Comment**, Jonathan Romney (70/100, inferred): The critic praises the film's hybrid of quasi-documentary realism and thriller elements in its depiction of a British soldier stranded in 1970s Belfast during the Troubles. It singles out the dynamic staging of the riot and the taut, muscular editing and cinematography for making the protagonist's disorientation compelling. [Read](https://www.filmcomment.com/yann-demange-71-review/)
- **Sight and Sound**, Trevor Johnston (70/100, inferred): Demange’s début wrings spills and thrills from the labyrinth of Ulster’s Troubles but offers limited dramatic insights. The film’s visceral intensity, immersive atmosphere and assured debut direction are singled out for praise. [Read](https://www.bfi.org.uk/sight-and-sound/reviews/film-week-71)
- **The New Yorker**, Anthony Lane (70/100, inferred): The review presents the film as a tense survival story of a stranded British soldier in Belfast during the Troubles, comparing it to earlier films like Odd Man Out but noting it does not aim for deep political insight. The director's focus on military operations and infighting is highlighted as a strength in creating tension. [Read](https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/03/09/lost-souls-cinema-anthony-lane)
- **The Times**, Wendy Ide (70/100, inferred): The review commends the propulsive tension and fresh take on the stranded-soldier premise set in 1970s Belfast, noting O'Connell's star quality and Demange's skilful handling of riot and chase sequences. Some plot strands involving undercover agents feel forced or less credible. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/travel/destinations/uk-travel/northern-ireland-travel/71-qgvvwnzf9wf)
- **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (65/100, inferred): The chase thriller delivers visceral thrills and strong performances, especially from O'Connell and the young Corey McKinley. It becomes less plausible and schematic toward the end with a manipulative script structure. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/71-starring-skins-actor-jack-o-connell-film-review-9786622.html)
- **Time Out**, Dave Calhoun (3/5): Demange is a strong storyteller offering a masterclass in tension and a distinctive mix of realist drama with heightened genre elements, capturing a strong sense of time and place. Characterisation is thin and the script nods to too many opinions and divisions. [Read](https://www.timeout.com/movies/71)
- **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (A-): The critic praises Yann Demange’s directorial debut as gripping and thoughtful, highlighting the brilliant direction, script, cinematography, editing, and especially Jack O’Connell’s phenomenal performance as a young British soldier abandoned in Belfast. [Read](https://collider.com/71-review/)
- **Digital Spy**, Ben Rawson-Jones (90/100, inferred): The critic hails the film as a fascinating, powerful and immensely thrilling masterpiece that functions as both a gripping thriller and a harrowing time capsule of the Troubles. It singles out the series of perfectly orchestrated shocks and Jack O'Connell's engaging portrayal of the isolated lead. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/bfi-london-film-festival/a602277/71-review-skins-star-jack-oconnell-in-extraordinary-thriller/)
- **Eye for Film**, Amber Wilkinson (90/100, inferred): The critic praises the focus on people over politics, taut action matched with emotional depth, and Demange's mature handling of the material alongside O'Connell's charismatic performance; the pared-down story hits home hard. [Read](https://www.eyeforfilm.co.uk/review/71-2014-film-review-by-amber-wilkinson)
- **The Playlist**, The Playlist Staff (A-): The review lauds the gripping, tense, and intelligent anti-war statement with excellent editing and O'Connell's intense performance; it navigates the complex territory with intelligence and sensitivity, though notes minor issues like multiple endings. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/review-gripping-tense-intelligent-71-starring-jack-oconnell-20150225/)
- **Consequence** (80/100, inferred): The critic highlights the film's realistic and shocking portrayal of violence and explosions, commending its tension-building endurance test and O’Connell’s vulnerable performance while noting its parable on the futility and pointlessness of war and factional fighting. [Read](https://consequence.net/2015/03/film-review-71/)
- **Den of Geek**, Caroline Preece (4/5): The critic calls the film a fantastic thriller that effectively puts the viewer in the protagonist's shoes during his desperate flight through Belfast. It singles out the unbearably tense opening riot sequence and Jack O'Connell's outstanding performance. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/71-review-2/)
- **NME**, Dan Brightmore (4/5): The critic describes the film as a compelling cinema verité-style indictment of conflict that never strays into gung-ho territory. It singles out the breathtaking attention to detail in recreating the Falls Road and the pulsating score by David Holmes. [Read](https://www.nme.com/reviews/reviews-various-artists-15700-323775)
- **HeyUGuys**, Stefan Pape (70/100, inferred): The critic finds the film unrelentingly intense and suspenseful, praising Demange's handheld camera work and authentic portrayal of the conflict, but notes some contrivances in later sequences and a lack of subtlety. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/71-review/)
- **Paste**, Tim Grierson (7.9): The review describes ’71 as a claustrophobic, intimate survival thriller focused on its protagonist's harrowing night in Belfast, praising O’Connell’s authentic embodiment of anxiety and Demange’s tense, vérité-style direction that underscores the futility of the conflict without grand statements. [Read](https://www.pastemagazine.com/movies/71)
- **The Skinny**, Sam Lewis (3/5): The critic calls the debut feature a blistering, disturbing portrayal that succeeds as both an action movie and a political thriller. It singles out Jack O'Connell's muscular performance as the young recruit thrown into a nightmarish world. [Read](https://www.theskinny.co.uk/film/new-releases/71)

## Details

- **Director:** Yann Demange
- **Director:** Yann Demange
- **Writer:** Gregory Burke
- **Cinematography:** Tat Radcliffe
- **Editor:** Chris Wyatt
- **Music:** David Holmes
- **Production design:** Chris Oddy
- **Costume design:** Jane Petrie
- **Producer:** Angus Lamont, Robin Gutch
- **Cast:** Jack O'Connell as Gary Hook; Sean Harris as Captain Sandy Browning; Paul Anderson as Sergeant Leslie Lewis; Sam Reid as Lt. Armitage; Sam Hazeldine as C.O.; Barry Keoghan as Sean Bannon; Charlie Murphy as Brigid; Richard Dormer as Eamon
- **Runtime:** 1h 39m
- **Release (the US):** 29 August 2014
- **Genres:** Thriller, Action, Drama, War
- **Budget:** $11 million
- **Box office:** $3 million
- **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIYDNyEkJP4

## Where to watch in the US

- Tubi: free, hd, leaving 2026-10-01
- Apple TV: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: add-on
- The Roku Channel: add-on, hd
- Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: rent $3.99, hd
- Apple TV: buy $5.99, sd
- Amazon Prime Video: buy $5.99, sd

*Checked 2026-09-17.*

Also available in: AE, AR, AT, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, ES, FR, GB, HU, IE, IN, IT, MX, NL, PA, PL, SE, US. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country.

## Awards

- European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year 2014: European Film Award for European Discovery of the Year (nominated)

## If you liked this

- *Odd Man Out* (1947): Belfast streets and a hunted man, with more patience for the bystanders.
- *The Battle of Algiers* (1966), Fi1m 93: Urban conflict examined through collective pressure, with the politics kept firmly in view. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-battle-of-algiers.md)
- *Southern Comfort* (1981), Fi1m 81: Another military unit discovers how little its training explains the danger around it. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/southern-comfort.md)
- *A Man Escaped* (1956): Patient, exact suspense built from practical decisions and the possibility of being heard.
- *Victoria* (2015): A city’s night becomes frightening through movement, uncertainty and loyalties formed too quickly.

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/71