[2] Thornton said that he and the other authors were opposed to any potential governmental involvement in the reprinting of the book as it would "leave it open to political influence".
[5] The film features voiceovers from the actors Kenneth Branagh, Roma Downey, Adrian Dunbar, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Sean McGinley, Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Stephen Rea, and Bronagh Waugh.
The film features graphic contemporary footage of the Troubles that is juxtaposed against imagery of the natural landscape of Northern Ireland including rivers, waterfalls, and a swan.
[5] Robert McCrum in his 2000 review of the book for The Guardian wrote that "It is not fiction, though it is full of heartrending stories, any one of which might provide a gifted writer with the bare bones of a shattering novel.
Now that the Troubles seem to be over, the publication of Lost Lives is perhaps the great monument for which the bloody history of Northern Ireland has been waiting".
[1] Mike McCahill in The Guardian wrote that "The variation of voices staves off any monotony inherent in the list format, and each story opens up some revealing front.
Collectively, they provide a renewed sense of just how widespread and all-consuming the Troubles were, how they caught up combatants and civilians, young and old alike" and that "there are images here that couldn't have been shown on the nightly news, interrupting the detachment instilled in the original prose".
The "jolting contrast" of the dialogue and imagery is noted with the "enduring beauty of the Irish landscape" set against "todays gleamingly secure pleasure palaces, built after civil war was replaced by something like peace".