New action drama in Troubles-beset Belfast thrills

In , an action-packed thriller set in Northern Ireland during the conflict between Catholics and Protestants - known as the Troubles - a young British soldier must find his way back to his barracks. It's a story both simple and complex, a gripping chase movie that's also politically aware.

Opening to rave reviews at home and abroad, the film has drawn attention to its star, 24-year-old English actor Jack O'Connell, who also had the lead role in Angelina Jolie's . But is perhaps most notable as the bold feature debut of director Yann Demange.

A successful director of commercials and British television who had been looking to make a feature film for some years, the 38-year-old found what he was looking for when Scottish playwright Gregory Burke sent him the script "If you had asked me a few years ago if I would make a film about the Troubles, I would have said 'No way'. It wasn't even on my radar," Demange says.

"I was really nervous; after [2008] and [2002], surely that had been the final word on it," the filmmaker says, referring to the acclaimed films on the conflict. "After I read the script though, I thought it felt completely different and new. It had a universality, and it spoke about a pattern of behaviour that could have been in Algeria or Ukraine."

Demange says the script "almost felt contemporary", although the story is set more than 40 years ago. O'Connell plays Private Gary Hook, a British Army recruit sent to Belfast as part of a security detail. On his first crowd-control mission, he is cut off from his squad, unarmed and alone. Afraid to give himself away with his accent, he must navigate not only the uncertain streets of Belfast on his way back to his barracks, but also a world of ambiguous allegiances and murky motivations.