Elephant

Alan Clarke’s bleak film depicts a succession of eighteen violent murders around Belfast. It remains intensely ambiguous, featuring no music or commentary and very little dialogue. The killings are left unexplained and are seemingly motiveless, providing a commentary on the savagery and futility of the sectarian murders which had become a routine feature of the news in Northern Ireland at the time. Original transmission: BBC2 25/01/1989 (40mins) The title for Clarke’s drama was inspired by a quote from writer Bernard MacLaverty, claiming that the Troubles were ‘as easy to ignore as an elephant in your living-room’ for those living in Northern Ireland - but perhaps suggesting that after a time, everyone has learned to live with it.

The killings in the film are left unexplained and are seemingly motiveless, providing a commentary on the savagery and futility of the sectarian murders which had become a routine feature of the news in Northern Ireland at the time. The title for Clarke’s drama was inspired by a quote from writer Bernard MacLaverty, claiming that the Troubles were ‘as easy to ignore as an elephant in your living-room’ for those living in Northern Ireland - but perhaps suggesting that after a time, everyone has learned to live with it. After its original broadcast, newspaper reports suggested an unprecedented number of complaints to the BBC from outraged viewers across the UK, and the film was criticised by many media commentators.

Clip courtesy BBC Motion Gallery