This was first reviewed on 05/10/17 as part of London Film Festival.

Following in the footsteps of recent popular crime documentaries Making a Murderer and Serial, No Stone Unturned tells the horrific story of the mass murder in Loughinisland, Northern Ireland. 23 years on and no one has been charged with carrying out the killing spree. Despite the attack occurring during the height of the Troubles in the country, any kind of violence was completely out of the ordinary for this small village. Then one night, two men simply walked into a pub and started firing automatic rifles as a group of men watched a World Cup match.

What should have been a fairly straightforward case to solve, with a wealth of evidence left behind by the killers, became an unsolved case that was rapidly swept under the carpet. Director Alex Gibney pulls together a huge assortment of interviews with the bereaved families, investigators and journalists, and in doing so manages to uncover shocking details.

Destroyed evidence, botched police reports, and key suspects never charged; it’s a never-ending spiral of disbelief as Gibney reveals more and more detail about the case. The depth that his research goes into is astounding, opening up some important questions that stretch far wider than the case itself. The scale of the documentary switches from a murder case to government corruption without ever losing sight of the people most affected by the atrocities.

Seeing just how deeply scarred the families are two decades on is desperately sad, but Gibney handles the matter delicately and respectfully, never overstepping the mark and exploiting the loved ones of the victims.

No Stone Unturned is a gripping documentary that gives a horrifying glimpse into innocent lives being let down by the justice system, and will leave you shaking your head in disbelief for a long time after.

RATING: 4/5


INFORMATION

DIRECTOR: Alex Gibney

WRITER: Alex Gibney

SYNOPSIS: On 18 June 1994, in the small village of Loughinisland, Northern Ireland, six men were brutally murdered and a few others were wounded in a pub while watching a World Cup soccer match. Despite a long investigation by the police and many confusing leads, no perpetrators of the attack were ever found. Now, Alex Gibney reopens the case.