Movies portray loyalists as morons, says UVF killer
A UVF killer played by Liam Neeson in a major movie has claimed too many films show loyalists as “morons”.
Alistair Little admitted he struggles with his past on a daily basis but has learned that sometimes reconciliation is impossible.
The gunman said he was “content” that the drama in which he was portrayed by Oscar-nominated Neeson — the BBC production Five Minutes Of Heaven — reflected the complexity of dealing with the past.
But he added: “There are a number of films that have in my opinion been quite prejudiced towards loyalists, who are portrayed as morons and drug dealers.”
Now a conflict resolution worker who has talked to Israeli and Palestinian groups and been in Afghanistan, the 52-year-old said: “I don’t buy into the concept of closure. For me this is life-long.”
Little was a 17-year-old member of the UVF when he shot dead 19-year-old Catholic Jimmy Griffin in Lurgan in 1975.
Now he is taking part in a breakthrough event in Belfast this week — debating how drama and song can carry powerful messages — which will bring together senior loyalists and republicans.
Little will be on a panel including victims’ spokesman Alan McBride, playwright Martin Lynch, actor Donna O’Connor, the star of the recent hit A Night With George. It will be chaired by journalist and actor Ivan Little.
The Play For Peace, at the Crescent Arts Centre in Belfast this Friday (5.30-7.30pm), is a joint venture of the David Ervine Foundation and the Belfast-Nashville Singer-Songwriters Festival.
The event includes five young people who work with victims organisation the Wave Trauma Centre, who will re-enact the Holy Cross school dispute and act out issues of intimidation and suicide.
