Film maker Colm Quinn told David Hennessy about his documentary Ransom ’79 which depicts the late journalist Charlie Bird on the trail of his final story.
Colm Quinn’s Ransom ’79, which screens at Irish Film Festival London, is an extraordinary true crime story and one that had remained secret for decades.
It is the story of an attempt by a criminal gang to extort millions from the Irish government by threatening an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease.
The ransom story had remained secret for over 40 years, until it was revealed to Charlie by former head of the Garda Fraud Squad, ‘Four Goals’ Willie McGee.
However, Ransom ’79 is much more than that.
It is the story of the late Charlie Bird, RTE correspondent for many years, and his determination to break one final story before his life was taken by Motor Neurone Disease.
A rare condition that progressively damages the nervous system, there is no cure and MND is terminal.
Bird announced in 2021 that he had been diagnosed with the condition and he died from it earlier this year.
Ransom ’79 is a story of true crime but also a portrait of the well known reporter in the later stages of his illness.
Pursuing the Ransom ’79 story was a method of coping for Charlie.
Losing himself in work gave him purpose and allowed to forget, albeit for a short time, what he was facing.
Director Colm Quinn told The Irish World: “Growing up in Ireland in the 80s and the 90s, Charlie was on our screens the entire time reporting on all the major stories. To have been able to work on any sort of a project with Charlie has been a privilege.
“But to work with him on his last one was an amazing privilege.
“It was a story that really meant a lot to him, I think.
“It was one he really wanted to tell.
“Credit to the producers John and David and (Charlie’s wife) Claire for finding the finance to get it made because it all happened very fast.
“We had originally discussed the project before Charlie got his diagnosis.
“Then after he got the diagnosis, we had to put the project on warp speed because we just didn’t know how much time there was going to be and we knew that Charlie was very keen to tell it.
“We just had to build a workflow that allowed Charlie to work on the project in a way that he was most comfortable with the challenges he was facing so there was a bit of flexibility in terms of how we approached the telling of it.
“It was just a privilege to have spent any sort of time with Charlie, really.”
There is one moment in the film where discussing Charlie’s condition his friend and colleague Colin Murphy, who works with Charlie on the story throughout, asks why they are still pursuing the story and Charlie’s answer is that he hasn’t lost his nose for a story..
“I think it was that sense of purpose that the story gave Charlie.
“I think continuing the process of working while all this was going on, I think there was enormous meaning in that for Charlie.
“From the diagnosis he had a very active couple of years.
“He had done the Climb with Charlie campaign where he got half the country out climbing mountains to raise money for motor neuron disease.
“We actually did a previous film with Charlie for RTE that more directly explored his life and work with him looking back so we actually did two feature documentaries with Charlie in the space of three years.
“Just to be in such close proximity to someone who was a journalistic legend and to hear all of the anecdotes was great.
“Charlie was someone who spent his life on screen essentially and he did so many documentaries over the course of his life and so many news reports.
“I think he was someone who just loved the process, just loved the process of making things, telling stories, researching stories and meeting people.
“He was so naturally curious.
“It was lovely to see that unfold as part of the process.
“It allowed him to forget, albeit temporarily, about the illness he was facing.
“You could see he was really in the moment and he was very focused on the task at hand.
“There was couple of reflections from Charlie in the course of the film where he talks about, ‘Why are we chasing this story while dealing with the effects of the condition?’
“I think there was just this really great dynamic between Colin and Charlie that I think Charlie felt comfortable to be able to talk in that way and I think that’s how those moments arose.
“Obviously his energy diminished over the course of making the piece, the condition was advancing but even with those challenges, just the will that he found to keep doing what he loved, it was amazing to be around that really.”
You just mentioned your previous documentary with Charlie, Loud and Clear which looked back on his long career but did you know him prior to that or is that where your relationship with him began?
“Yeah, that’s where it began.
“It was the producer John Kelleher, that’s really the core relationship in all this.
“Charlie and John knew each other going back to RTE in the 70s.
“This was before Charlie was reporting, when Charlie was a researcher in RTE.
“That was the thing.
“I think he was very, very keen to work with John.
“That’s the kind of core trust that the project was essentially built on.
“John introduced me to Charlie initially.
“The first project we discussed was the Ransom ‘79 one and that was before the diagnosis but then the diagnosis happened.
“We ended up doing Charlie Bird Loud and Clear for RTE.
“I think when we did that one we were wondering a little bit if Charlie would still be keen to do Ransom ‘79.
“The amazing thing was that he wanted to do the project after doing Loud and Clear.
“We spent a lot of time with Charlie and Claire over the course of those two projects.
“The process of making two films, you’re spending time with each other almost on a weekly basis over the course of a two or three year period.
“You get to know people really well.
“I keep coming back to this thing of just saying, it was a privilege to work with the guy.
“But now he’s gone and even a short amount of time has passed since he passed away, I think there is that real sense of gratitude to have been able to have spent that bit of time with them and to have done the two stories with them.”
There was some responsibility on your part. For instance there was that moment when Charlie had a coughing fit on the train and the camera instantly pans away.
It was important to give Charlie his dignity..
“Absolutely.
“I suppose there was an element of balance in the sense that we didn’t want to be sugar coating the challenges that he faced either and I think he wanted to show that part of it as well.
“It was really a balancing act in terms of, as you say, maintaining that dignity but also giving a sense of just the challenges that he was facing.
“Obviously when you’re shooting observational material, you can capture a lot of material and you’ve got to be very careful in the edit in terms of finding the fairest way through that.
“I was working with a guy called Scott Dulson and we edited the film remotely.
“Scott would have very strong sensibilities as well around how to handle such sensitive subject matter so it was in great hands from that point of view too.
“The other layer of it was the workflow.
“There were some days where we may have had a full day of filming planned and Charlie just may not have been strong enough that particular day so we needed to have a backup plan for what we would film if we had a full crew out and the cost involved with that.
“It was just about scheduling in a smarter way as well just to allow that bit of flexibility into the shooting schedule.
“When you’re making a documentary, you’re doing lots of things simultaneously.
“You’re filming, you’re researching, you’re editing, all at the same time.
“Then when the main protagonist in the film is facing a terrible illness on top of all that as well, there’s an enormous amount of uncertainty at play in it all.
“It’s just trying to be as flexible as you possibly can be as an observational filmmaker.
“It’s almost like you’re on call.
“You might just get a call at 10 o’clock at night in terms of what’s happening the next day and you just have to switch things up accordingly.
“But then there were other days where Charlie was driving us along.
“He was very keen to squeeze in as much material as he could when he was feeling up to it on particular days, probably earlier in the process.
“That energy and drive to get the thing made was very present for Charlie.”
There’s a poignant moment early on in the film when Charlie and Colin are at their desks working and Charlie tells Colin, using his voice app, that he is deteriorating and he feels he won’t last the year…
“It is (poignant).
“The context for that particular scene was kind of a last minute one.
“It was just myself filming that day and doing sound and that particular moment wasn’t anticipated.
“We didn’t know Charlie was going to be so frank in that regard.
“The intention was to shoot some material around the two guys doing a bit of research on the story.
“But then Charlie just very clearly pointed out to Colin how things were playing out.
“It was also a message to us and the crew.
“It was very, very direct.
“The producers, John and David (Power) were there that day as well.
“He was just giving a message to the room essentially, ‘We need to get this thing moving’.
“It really was him driving it in that sense.
“We kind of had to be really responsive to what Charlie was saying in that moment.”
Of course there is a central story about the ransom demand. Ireland was in darker times but no better man to take you into them than Charlie Bird…
“That was the amazing thing because Charlie was involved in left wing politics of the day before he got going on his journalistic path.
“It was just so interesting because he had such a unique take on the period and could remember it so clearly.
“There’s a line in the film at one point, ‘There wasn’t a Friday went by where there wasn’t a bank robbery’.
“You just get this real sense the place was like the Wild West, you know.
“And obviously with the possibility of the troubles in the north spilling over into the south and all that, Charlie had a very vivid picture of that period.
“That was really interesting in that sense.
“I think Charlie was amazed that he had heard nothing about it from the time and his early years as a journalist.
“There was never anything he ever heard about this and then 40 odd years later, he gets a tip off and no better man than Charlie to uncover something that’s remained secret for the last 40 odd years.”
Charlie says early in the film that this was his ‘last story’ and I suppose working on it that was something that wasn’t forgotten..
“He was so close to so many huge stories that unfolded over the last 40, 50 years.
“It’s just an incredible journalistic career.
“On Ransom ‘79 we could see that the condition was advancing in a more serious way.
“Because we were so in a hurry, we were very much focused on the film and the telling of that story.
“We had to put so much energy into just figuring out how we could get as close to the film we wanted to make as we could with the limited time that we had left with Charlie and obviously just being sensitive to what he was facing.
“It was a tough that this was his last project.
“We were really aware that it meant so much to him and I think that’s what kind of drove us along in the sense of really getting stuck into the story and telling it as best we could, researching it as thoroughly as we could and just being as responsive as we could be to his condition and what he wanted to film as it unfolded.”
Unfortunately Charlie did not get to see the finished film as it will screen in London this weekend.
“That’s sad but I think it’s great that he saw the project come to life in the way it did and that he saw the elements coming together.
“He did see a fairly advanced rough cut.
“I think even with the illness, he was keeping an eye on the process and how the film was unfolding.
“I hope it gave him some solace in in that period when he was facing so much.
“It sounds like it did, it sounds like he took a lot of meaning from it.”
You have mentioned Charlie’s wife Claire who is also a part of the film..
“There’s a line in the film that says that the story was keeping him alive but really it was Claire that was keeping him alive.
“She’s very, very frank in terms of talking about the strain of the condition and what they were facing.
“And she very eloquently describes what chasing this story meant to Charlie.
“Obviously, just such an awful condition for anyone to have to face.
“Charlie bore it with such dignity and with so much support from Claire along the way.”
Charlie sadly passed away from the disease this year but the positives that could come out of it are this film and his other work raise awareness and there is research and one day, hopefully, a cure.
“With the Climb with Charlie campaign I think it was around 3 million they raised and that’s going to go towards research.
“It’s a hell of a condition but Charlie and Claire made every second count that they had together.
“From the moment of diagnosis Charlie did two films, a book and the Climb with Charlie campaign: Just incredible, incredible energy even with what he was facing.
“It’s very much a film about trying to stay in the moment and stay present.
“Those moments where we’re all healthy and happy and getting on with life, to be able to appreciate them and be grateful for what you have in the moment.
“But also when you’re in that situation where you’re facing the gravest of challenges, how important it is to stay in the moment and to stay present and just deal with it moment by moment.”
Ransom ’79 screens 4pm Saturday 17 November at VUE Piccadilly as part of Irish Film Festival London (13- 17 November).
For more information, go to iftuk.com.
