IN THE NAME OF 
GERRY CONLON

SYNOPSIS

Gerry Conlon was the protagonist of one of the most clamorous judicial mishaps in the history of the United Kingdom. Together with three other persons, he was arrested and condemned to a life sentence for the 1974 IRA bombing attack of a pub in Guildford, not far from London, in which five people died and sixty-five were wounded. In short order, another seven persons were arrested inasmuch as considered accomplices, and among them, there was Conlon's father, Giuseppe, who was blocked when on his way to London to assist his son. The “Guildford Four” (aside from Conlon, Paul Hill and Paddy Armstrong of Belfast and the Englishwoman, Carole Richardson) would have to wait until 1989 for the Court of Appeals to recognize their innocence. From that moment, Conlon becomes a human rights activist famous across the entire world. This merciless journey into one of the most clamorous and scandalous judicial errors in the history of the United Kingdom, follows the more intimate pathway of the direct witness accounts of those who had been close to Gerry Conlon: his sisters, his lawyer, his pub mates and the association volunteers. One witness account leaps ahead of all others in the eyes of the viewers owing to its intensity and sheer force: the last interview of Gerry Conlon, fortuitously recorded by the director Lorenzo Moscia. Lorenzo had the opportunity of meeting Gerry two months before his death, while in Belfast for the photographic reportage “Belfast New Hanger,” focused on the still enduring tensions between the nationalists and the separatists. Moved by the story of this incredible man, Lorenzo found himself recording much more than an interview, but a veritable spiritual testament. 

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DIRECTOR'S NOTE

In the two months spent in Belfast, Gerry not only generously told me his story, but recounted his whole life. He let me discover a sixty year old man who was still fighting against the ghosts of his past. But despite all this pain and anguish, Gerry had managed to push forward, and, above all, to be on the front line of defending other persons similar to him - innocent prisoners of unjust sentences. When I work, the most important thing for me is human respect for those I am photographing, recording, listening to. During our chats, the video camera was simply propped on the kitchen table, atop a pack of cigarettes. I never bothered to fuss over the framing. Actually, I tried to make my Canon an “invisible” presence. Only in this manner was it possible for me to obtain that level of intimacy with Gerry. It's an honor for me to have spent time with him; and it's an even greater honor to create this documentary to familiarize others with Gerry Conlon and his story. And I want to recount it with these last, precious words of his as well as the words of others: those of the media, of the judges, of the corrupt policemen; those of the pub mates, those of his rescuer, the lawyer Gareth Pierce, of his sisters, of those who were close to him. I want all the words to be gathered of those citizens who, like Conlon, have been subjected to horrendous violations of their human rights.