THE film may have been a mega-bucks success, but the word "Titanic" still suggests doomed projects and failure on a massive scale. The search for a peaceful life on a council estate in West Belfast in 1972 certainly fits the doomed project bill; the massive scale comes into it when the whole question of peace in Ireland is tackled.

This film shows the interweaving of ordinary people's lives with political and ideological struggles which claim to have sight of the bigger picture. Director Roger Michel fills his cinematic canvas with contrasts: a quiet council estate with French marigolds on the lawns, crawling with soldiers and tanks; a shopping centre with children playing and shots ringing out; neighbours bringing cups of tea, and neighbours throwing bricks through the window. By their very surrealness, the situation has an air of reality. Julie Walters, excellent as ever, plays Bernie McPhelimy, a concerned mother of four, with an ill husband (Ciaran Hinds) who takes on the political and military powers that be in an effort to make the streets safe for her children and for others.

A film about the Troubles can never show a clear line between good and bad, wrong and right, and this is no exception: mistakes are made by all parties, the Republicans come across as intimidating, the British as patronising, and everybody is guilty of killing innocent people. What "Titanic Town" perhaps shows best is the difficulty on the part of those involved, willingly or otherwise, in accepting this lack of definition, in a place where people are expected to choose a side and stick with it through thick or thin. Michell has taken an always difficult subject and treated it well, without unnecessary romanticism or sentimentality. He also reveals an essential touch of humour and an eye for detail. Strong performances, including Nuala O'Neill playing Bernie's eldest daughter, help to complete a picture that is capable of making you laugh, as well as cry.