"BIG PLANE SMALL AXE (The Mis-Trials of Mary Kelly."

galway | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Tuesday June 28, 2005 19:22 by On behalf of Mags D'Arcy

World Premiere at GALWAY FILM FLEADH

The film is part of a double-documentary bill:
10.30 am: "TALKING OF POWER" (Venzuelan Women discuss Chavez's revolution: 61 mins.)
followed by "BIG PLANE SMALL AXE" (51 mins.)
concluding with a discussion chaired by Lelia Doolan, to finish at 1.30 pm.

Tickets € 5, Concessions € 4.50

Filmed and Produced by Margaretta D’Arcy

In January 2003 the American build-up for the attack on Iraq was intensifying daily. Shannon airport had become a refuelling stopover for war. Mary Kelly, newly returned from hair-raising experiences as a volunteer nurse in Palestine, threw herself into the antiwar movement, but soon came to believe that it was not enough –
“I felt I had to do something else, and shatter through their lies ... I just did not want those planes going there, so I attacked one of them … It was like chopping extremely hard wood.”
She was charged with criminal damage to a US Navy aircraft without lawful excuse, and faced a possible ten years in gaol. The film follows her ordeal through three successive trials, in Kilrush and Ennis, and finally her sentencing at Limerick.
Big Plane Small Axe adopts a deliberately subjective and conversational style to contrast with the more objective approach of mainstream documentary. The camera becomes as it were a neighbour in whom Mary’s family and supporters can confide as the prosecution and defence follow their tortuous course through the hypocrisies of the Irish legal system.
In Kilrush, a typical small country town, much of the business of the court is seen to be done on the pavement of the narrow main street. This is the first time in Ireland for the legality of the war to be challenged in court on a basis of international law. There is a line-up of distinguished anti-war witnesses –
· Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney-General, who comments, “If you ever want peace on earth, you don’t prosecute the people taking action to protect peace.”
· Denis Halliday, who had resigned as Asst. Gen. Secretary of the UN over sanctions against Iraq,
· Scott Ritter, UN Weapons Inspector, whose evidence is ruled inadmissible (he being the only witness to show how there were no WMDs in Iraq, and therefore no reason for the war).
The jury is unable to agree a verdict.

The case is now moved to the more majestic environment of the Ennis county courthouse. The second trial collapses when Mary’s lawyers unexpectedly walk out and refuse to hand over her papers: she is forced to conduct her own defence.
“I believe the Irish government has got a signal from Washington that Mary Kelly must be prosecuted and found guilty.” (Denis Halliday).
Whatever the hidden influences, the State’s resistance to Mary Kelly’s line of argument has demonstrably hardened. All her international witnesses are now deemed irrelevant –
· Curtis F. Doebbler, human rights lawyer, one of the team representing Saddam Hussein,
· Daniel Ellsberg, the whistleblower who exposed the machinations behind the US war in Vietnam,
· Dr S-H. Gunther, investigator of the lethal effects of depleted uranium on Iraqi mothers and children,
· Ed Horgan, retired Irish army officer who served with the UN peacekeeping force,
· Denis Halliday, who had resigned as Asst. Gen. Secretary of the UN over sanctions against Iraq,

The jury finds Mary guilty and she is sentenced to two years’ gaol, suspended.
The film recaptures the rhythm of the trials through the excitement, fear, glee and heartbreak expressed by Mary’s children, her sister, her aunt, the rejected witnesses, and a host of friends and supporters who affirm, dispute and denounce the daily proceedings of the court – a vivid journey arching over a year-and-a-half from June 2003 to December 2004.

“Every single day, every hour of every day, they have banned the unspeakable subject of the war in Iraq. She’s put it back in court and she’s defied them to do it … It’s now a matter of court record !” (Liz Tully, of Mary Kelly’s Legal Support Group.)

“Three different trials, they haven’t put her away, she hasn’t apologized for busting their plane !” (Tim Hourican, anti-war plane spotter.)
“As free as a bird !” (Martin, Mary Kelly’s son.)