U2’s Video for ‘Every Breaking Wave’ Revisits Ireland’s Brutal Past

To be honest, the headline for this story might be taken as a bit of a spoiler. The music video for U2's "Every Breaking Wave" -- above -- starts out happily, highlighting moments of youthful bliss. Irish punks seem to be having fun, dancing and enjoying themselves.

Without any expectations for what's going to happen next, you could easily fall into thinking this would be another upbeat U2 outing. But then you see some machine guns and things take a turn.

While the headline could be considered a spoiler, we've had a good, albeit general, idea of what the video would be about after the filming disrupted a Belfast neighborhood and got the locals complaining and speculating.

The video revisits the bloody Troubles that plagued Ireland and the U.K. for decades. One boy's father is arrested, leading to the boy and his friends taking up arms themselves. Things get worse from there.

The music video itself is directed by filmmaker Aoife McArdle who helmed the 13-minute Every Breaking Wave short film. That short film focused on “Every Breaking Wave” and “The Troubles” (the closing track to U2’s latest record, Songs of Innocence). You can watch it below: