Gerry Conlon was the protagonist of one of the most glaring judicial errors in the history of the United Kingdom. Along with three other people, he was arrested and sentenced to life in prison for the 1974 IRA attack on a pub in Guildford, near London, in which five people died and sixty-five were injured. Shortly thereafter, seven other people were arrested for alleged accomplices, including Conlon's father, Giuseppe, who was arrested on his way to London to assist his son.
The Guildford Four (plus Conlon, Paul Hill and Paddy Armstrong of Belfast and an English woman, Carole Richardson) had to wait until 1989 for the Court of Appeals to recognize their innocence. From that moment, Conlon became a world-renowned human rights activist.
This tough journey into one of the most glaring and scandalous judicial errors in UK history runs the most intimate way of direct testimony from those who have been close to Gerry Conlon: his sisters, his lawyer, friends from the pub and volunteers of the association. A testimony, more than the others, leaps to the viewer for its intensity and strength: the latest interview by Gerry Conlon, fortuitously collected by the director Lorenzo Moscia.
Lorenzo had the opportunity to meet Gerry two months before his death, while he was in Belfast for the photo report “Belfast new hanger”, on the tensions that still exist between nationalists and separatists. Moved by the story of this incredible man, Lorenzo found himself recording much more than an interview: a real spiritual testament.