I examined the documentary Behind the Mask, which was released in 1991. This documentary explains the actions of the IRA and the events during the troubles. Throughout the 1 hour showing, multiple members of The IRA and Sinn Fein were interviewed and asked about their experiences in the IRA and living through the troubles. I wanted to examine this documentary to get a glimpse into the minds of people going through the troubles and why they turned to the IRA. Reading and watching information from the troubles helps clarify why people joined the IRA, however, hearing the explanations from real people truly put the whole conflict in perspective and added a new layer of depth into my understanding of the troubles. For my additional research into
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Unlike watching a movie, evaluating a documentary requires focus and a great deal of attention to detail. Throughout my viewing of this documentary I had to pause and write down multiple notes to ensure I had all the information it was providing. One thing I struggled with immensely while viewing this documentary was the lack of subtitles showing the dates the interviewees were referring to. The only mention of dates came from the interviewee themselves and this happened rather quickly. If the film would have provided a more detailed explanation of the dates that were happening, it would have been much easier to follow and understand. Due to the lack of clearly available dates, the film lost some of its momentum in terms of teaching the viewer what was happening throughout the troubles. While it is much more difficult and time consuming to examine a documentary critically, it provides the viewer with a much deeper understanding of the context and helps to catch any information that is not factual or that may be biased. By closely examining this film I was able to determine that it was factual however a little biased as it never mentioned what it was like for the Protestant people at the time. Examining a documentary critically allowed me to gather much more information from the film than if I had simply watched it without paying close attention and taking detailed
Unlike watching a movie, evaluating a documentary requires focus and a great deal of attention to detail. Throughout my viewing of this documentary I had to pause and write down multiple notes to ensure I had all the information it was providing. One thing I struggled with immensely while viewing this documentary was the lack of subtitles showing the dates the interviewees were referring to. The only mention of dates came from the interviewee themselves and this happened rather quickly. If the film would have provided a more detailed explanation of the dates that were happening, it would have been much easier to follow and understand. Due to the lack of clearly available dates, the film lost some of its momentum in terms of teaching the viewer what was happening throughout the troubles. While it is much more difficult and time consuming to examine a documentary critically, it provides the viewer with a much deeper understanding of the context and helps to catch any information that is not factual or that may be biased. By closely examining this film I was able to determine that it was factual however a little biased as it never mentioned what it was like for the Protestant people at the time. Examining a documentary critically allowed me to gather much more information from the film than if I had simply watched it without paying close attention and taking detailed