There is the famously Irish instinct for dealing with humaneccentricity as well as the whimsical and magical.

Irish Movies: a Renaissance

Jim Sheridan's 1989 Irish film. My Left Foot, broughtAcademy Awards to Brenda Fricker (left), as the mother ofChristy Brown, who is played by Daniel Day-Lewis, winnerof the Best Actor award.

By JAMES W. ARNOLD

SOMETHING IS GOING ON with the Irish andmovies. If you think you've been seeing more Irishmovies lately, from "My Left Foot" and "The

Crying Game" to "The Secret of Roan Inish." "In the

JAMES W. ARNOLD, professor emeritus of journalismand ñhii at Marquette University, has reviewed films forSt. Anthony Messenger for 30 years.

Name of the Father" and "Michael Collins," you'reright.

There is an "Irish spring" happening in the cin-ema, but it has nothing lo do with Colgate-Palmo-live or bath soap.

These are just a few of the major Irish films thathave been accessible to American audiences intheaters during the 199O's. Many are available onvideo, as are a score of other titles from the lastdecade, some familiar, some not. like "Cal,""Mona Lisa," "The Field," "Hear My Song," "ThePlayboys." "The Commitments," "The Snapper,""Widow's Peak," "Frankie Starlight," "Circle ofFriends," "Into the West." They're all "Irish" in thesense that they're about the Irish, substantially pro-duced in Ireland, and/or (more and more common-ly) created by Irish companies and talent.

"Frankie Starlight," for example, is produced byIrishman Noel Pearson but adapted from AmericanChet Raymo's novel. The Dork of Cork. It's abtuit adwarf who grows up in lieland after World War II,the son of a Frenchwoman and an American G.I.,discovers astronomy, becomes a famous author andfinds true love. It was made mostly in Ireland withan international cast directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who. although English, is the accomplishedson (he directed the "Brideshead Revisited" minis-eries for British television) of the durable Irish-bomactress Géraldine Fitzgerald.

Another chaiacteristic of these films is that, forthe most part, they have a charm and humanity, aninfectious, "real people" quality that distinguishesthem from, say. the more pretentious, sensational,special-effects driven American movie product.Irish films are not yet "big business" with a mega-

bucks psychology.But even the.se more identifiable titles are just the sur-

face of a native Irish film industry bursting with creativeenergy. These other films Americans haven't yet had achance to see.

This development is important for American Catholicswho love movies because it brings "on line," metaphori-cally speaking, a fourth country with a rich Catholic cul-ture as a major player in the art and industry of cinema.Until now, most movies linked to a Catholic world-viewhave come from France, Spain or Italy,

AMERICA NOVEMBER 2, 1996

Irish movies can be expected to be different, to be unique.just as Irish stories, novels and plays have been. Indeed, fewIrish films are about traditional religious subjects like bibli-cal ligures, saints, clerics or theological dilemmas. But Cath-olicism—and Catholic culture ;uid family life—-are basic inIreland and. indeed, in Irish films.

It has taken a while for Irish films to get started. Fewerthan 100 movies were made in Ireland during the first 100yeui-s since the invention of cinema. (The country has. formuch of this century, been isolated from world culture).That compares with more than 2,000 films about the Irishor Irish expatriates made by or in other countries (mostlythe United States and Britain). Of these, the most memo-rable and famous range from "Troubles" sagas like theniulti-Oscar-winning "The Informer" (1935) and "OddMan Out" (1947) to musicals like "Finian's Rainbow"(1968) and sentimental comedies like "Going My Way"(1944). Perhaps the most famous Hollywood-Irish, "St.Patrick's Day" movie of all is the John Wayne-MaureenO' Hara classic, 'The Quiet Man" ( 1952). directed by JohnFord.

They all have contributed to Irish stereotypes, from lep-rechauns and Irish cops and pols to stem rural patriarchsand T.R.A. assassins, with "backwardness" a major part ofthe image. According to Kevin Rockett. author of thestunningly comprehensive The Irish Filmograpliy 1896-1996. "Ireland is largely represented [in movies] as a pre-modem, pre-industrial society."

Speaking for Ourselves."We are anxious to speak ourselves and not be spoken

about." says Michael Hannigan, director of the Cork FilmFestival and a leading figure in Irish film. "We are notiuicient Hibernians but modem Europeans." More films bythe Irish themselves have been made in the last two decadesthan in the previous 80 years. In his major 1996 production,"Michael (ïollins." winner of the top prize at the VeniceFilm Festival, the director Neil Jordan tells "Irish historythrough Irish eyes."

Jordan and Jim Sheridan have been perhaps the most vis-ible figures in this Irish surge. Jordan, 46, bom in Sligo,raised Catholic and educated at University College. Dublin,was a successful novelist and short story writer. Hired in1980 as a script consultant for "Excalibur." which was beingshot in Ireland, he made a documentary about the making ofthat film. His many movies since then include "Mona Lisa,""The Crying Game" (based on a short story he wrote yearsearlier) and "Michael Collins."

Sheridan, a year older and a Dublin native and UniversityCollege graduate, has been connected with five major filmsin seven years. He worked in theater in Dublin until he wentto New York as artistic director of the city's Irish ArtsCenter and studied film at New York University. Back inIreland, he wrote and directed "My Left Foot" (1989). basedon the autobiography of the paralyzed Irish artist ChristyBrown, and "The Field" (1990). He did the screenplay for"Into the West" (1992), then directed, produced and co-

wrote'in the Name of the Father"(l993), and this year pro-duced the controversial "Some Mother's Son."

Another major figure is the actor (briefly a seminarian)Gabriel Byrne, also familiar in American movies ("TheUsual Suspects," "Miller's Crossing"). Besides roles in keyIrish films ("Into the West." "Frankie Starlight"). Byrne. 46.with an early background similar to Sheridan's, was execu-tive producer and a major player in the m;\king of "In theName of the Father." His Dublin-based production compa-ny. Mirabilis Films, has three modestly budgeted films in theworks. He refuses Hollywood money: "We like to retain ourindependence."

Irish films of major Catholic interest have traditionallyfallen into two broad categories—those with importantmoral/religious or family aspects or themes, and thosewith the famously Irish instinct for dealing with humaneccentricity as well as the whimsical and magical. Charac-ters in Irish movies tend to be quirky bul recognizablyhuman, and the world they inhabit often has a mysteryand holiness about it.

Consider a few examples from past and present:"The Informer" (1939) is a classic story of conscience

and moral dilemma, set during the 1916 rising, in which arevolutionary, needing money, betrays his best friend to theBritish. Its modem counterparts. "Cal" (1984) and "TheCrying Game" (1992), are about men in similar tensions: a

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Catholic I.R.A. assassin who falls for a Protestant widow,atid a compassionate I.R.A. "soldier" too tolerant andhumane for the ruthlessness required of him.

In "My Left Ftxit" Sheridan tells the story not only of amemorable individual (Christy Brown), who took the onelimb he was able to use as a gift and achieved marvelousgoals, but of the hunger of the human spirit for love. It's alsoaboul iin extraordinary mother and large family who cher-ished Christy, and öfters pei suasive evidence for an overallCatholic ethic of life.

If that was a "gtxxJ mother" story. Sheridan then tells a"good father" story in "in the Name of the Father." It's alsoa 'family" story and the quintessential portrait of a loving,traditional father who joins his estranged son in prison(though innocent) and, strong in his mind and Catholic faith,gives his own life to help them endure.

In David Lean's "Ryan's Daughter" (1970). set in 1916 ina small West country village, a mairied woman falls in lovewith a British major; a central figure is the town's dominantpastor (Trevor Howard)—an archetypal Irish plot. In a mixi-eni variation, "The Playboys" (1992). the independent hero-ine in a County Cavan village battles priest, convention,community pressure and even the men who love her tonuike her own decisions and iirrange a future for herself andher infant son. The priest fears change and the spirit of thetimes.

Complex priest characters are common. In "The Field"

the young pastor can't get through to his hard-headed ruralflock about justice. In "The Commitments" (1991). in whichblue collar guys from North Dublin fomi a "soul" band, theyoung priest is an avid pop music fiui and the hero's dad hastwo pictures on the wall—Elvis iind the Pope. In "Prayer forthe Dying" (1987). a priest becomes an unwitting asstxiateof an I.R.A. hit man hiding out in his church. In "Circle ofFriends" (1994), about Catholic giris coming of age in the195O's. the pastor, stern and pre-conciliar, proves morehumane than the real villain, the self-interest of the sophisti-cated, corrupt upper class.

The magical element in the Irish tradition is well dis-played in "Into the West" and "Frankie Starlight." as well asin "The Secret of Roan Inish" ( 1995). a fairy tale about theconnection joining Irish fishermen and their families tonature and the traditional myths bonding them with the sea-coast gnlls and seals.

While Irish story interests are wide-ranging, a significantsegment obviously still focuses on nationalistic conflict.Sheridan's new film. "Some Mother's Son." provoked astorm in May at Cannes. It's about two fictional womenwith sons involved in the 1981 Bobby Sands hunger strike atthe Maze prison. A prominent British critic described itangrily as "propaganda." adding that it "suggests that theIrish Republic is now sponsoring more than a film industry."The Irish responded that the film was "strong, egalitarianand fainninded."

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Given the delicate cease-fire situation in Ireland in 1996.any film relating to the North is likely to stir controversy.Roughly eight big budget films are in various stages ofdelay. One temporary casualty was Thaddeus O'Sullivan's"Nothing Personal." which deiils with an intense 24 hours inBelfast during the 1975 cease-fire. A Catholic (John Lynch)is captured by a group of renegade loyalist thugs hoping toundermine the truce. Although the film was shown inGalway in 1995. O'Sullivaii had to cut some violence andcharacterizations, and release was delayed on both sides ofthe border until May 1996.

Help from the GovernmentAlthough the Irish are making a splash, like the Aus-

tralians in earlier decades, they're not about to take overthe world movie industry. As in most foreign countries.,movies made domestically have a shot at only a smallslice of the total box-office because they have to competewith the popular Hollywood product. In Irish theaters,American-made movies take up about 95 percent of thescreen time. "Irish audiences are not particulaily interest-ed in Irish tilnis." says Paddy Breathnach, a young direc-tor of major promise.

But that could change. The all-time box-office champi-on in Ireland, for instance. "The Commitments." whicb isa prime example of the Irish film renaissance, was filmedin Ireland with an Irish cast. (The director was Britain's

Alan Parker, but the script was by the Dublin schoolteach-er and novelist Roildy Doyle).

In the 198O's. Irish talent began to be noted on the worldscene—directors like Jordan and Sheridan and Pat O'Con-nor ("Cal"), and actors like Byrne. Stephen Rea ("CryingGame"). John Lynch ("Cal." "Roan Inish." "Moll Flanders"*)and Oscai-winner Brenda Fricker ("My Left Foot." "A Tmieto Kill"). In 1985. the Dublin Film Festival was founded.There are now also annual tests in Cork and Gaiway. andmagazines for film aficionados like Film West and FilmIreland.

But the real impact was felt in 1993, with an enlightenedand unprecedented level of government encouragement andfinancial support for both Irish film makers and foreigninvestors. To an American, the idea of government patron-age sounds strange. Our tradition is decidedly "hands-off 'when it comes to government support tor films, both forphilosophical reasons and from fear of government use ofmovies for propaganda. But Ireland lacks America's privateresources, Compared with its competitors. Ireland is a smallcountry.

The Irish see a thriving film industry as a way to createjobs and promote the country abroad. Michael D. Higgins.whose title is Minister for Arts. Culture and the Gaeltacht(the country's Gaelic-speaking areas), says Ireland alsofears "colonization of the imagination." It's part of hisGovernment's policy to protect the sœiety by protecting its

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image and insuring that Ireland is not "defined by others."As a result, immense production is going on, according

to John Hill, film scholar at the University of Ulster and co-author of Cinema and Irclami ( 1988). "For the first time wecan talk of iui THsh film culture, if not quite an industry."On average, about 20 features a year are produced, com-pared to three a year before 1993.Says Hill, "'Overall, this is a veryhealthy situation."

Still, economics alone cannotaccount for the vitality in Irishfilms. "Money is necessary butnot sufficient," says Rod Stone-man, chief executive of the IrishFilm Board since 1993. He citesthe example of Germany, whichalso offers support but has nothad a comparable flowering.

Stoneman says Ireland isundergoing extraordinary andrapid technicalization. whichañects the culture in every way.The trish are becoming moreurbanized and social, and sexualmores are changing. It's going"about 350 m.p.h.," he says.

"Every year |the film situationis] going to get better and bet-ter," says Ed Guiney, one of Ire-land's brightest young producers("Ailsa" [1994], "Guiltrip" [1995]). He believes that theIrish can make and develop their own films but not yet sellthem, and that is the key problem for now. "The changeshave put us on a par with the rest of Europe.'" adds TrishMcAdiun. writer-director of "Snakes and Uidders," a $4.1million European late 1996 co-prtxluction.

Guiney and McAdam iire typical of the local talent tbatburgeoned in the late I980's with a huge increa.se in thenumber and quality of short films being made, (Thirty-threenew short films were screened at the Cork Festival in Octo-ber 1995). Young enthusiasts often work on them for free,leaming ibeir craft.

"We look to co-financing as a major source of funds,"Guiney says, suggesting tbat Ireland is unlikely to follow themarket-driven commercial road of Hollywood. He and oth-ei"s realize they can't beat Hollywood at its own game andneed to develop tbeir own content and style. "We hope tomix the best of the European independent tradition witb theU.S. ability to sell its product."

McAdam agrees, noting a "passion" in Irish film mak-ers and a willingness to take risks that make it likely theywill follow their own paths. Those paths lead in a difterentdirection than the "romantic Ireland" of popular fantasyand the literary sources of the past.

A Cultural Shift.The change is profound. Simply put, a very conserva-

The pervading themein today's

Irish films is.the penetration ofthe Irish psycheby modernity.

tive country, isolated in much of the 20th century by itsown political and cultural conflicts, has in one generationbeen penetrated by modern influences. Coming in thewake of rural electrification, "Hollywood's version ofromantic love has undermined the social rules in rural Ire-land," says Luke Gibbons, director of tbe graduate pro-

gram in tllm and television stud-ies at Dublin City University.The pervading theme in today'sIrish films, he adds, is "the pene-tration of tbe lrisb psyche bymodernity."

Another veteran academic,tbe media scholar Martin Mc-Loone of tbe University ofUlster, puts it, "We are interest-ed in who and what we are....¡There is much] questioning ofthe national psyche." One waytbis is expressed in films is in amore questioning attitudetoward the church, which manyargue is in crisis in Ireland. Anearly example, Cathal Black's"Our Boys" (1978), which wasbanned for 10 years, deals semi-autobiographically with bmtalityin a Catholic school. Black's lat-est feature, tbe stunningly cine-matic "Korea" (1995), about a

young Irishman killed in the Korean war, demonstratesanother trend challenging the deeply imbued romanticismabout the land.

Several new films show rural Ireland to be a place ofproblems and discontent. This appears even in comedy,like Nigel Bristow's hilarious 1995 short. "Everybody'sGone" (a winner at the Chicago film festival), in which ayoung fanner leaves his home and ancestral land to takeup life with some sexy American surfers who happen tobe working the waves nearby.

Gibbons says that women are crucial symbols in Irishculture. Tbe maternal home is a symbol of tradition, andthe mother stands for conservatism and tradition. "Changeis associated with the daughter," he says. "Girls are moreopen to outside influence."

"Into the West" (1993), scripted by Jim Sheridan,expresses several of these themes. It combines fantasy andrealism in a story about two pre-teen brothers, who livewith their dissolute and demoralized father (GabrielByme) in a Dublin slum, and louches on urban corruptionand media and corporate influences. The boys liberate amagical white stallion, which carries them into the mralWest to the grave of their mother. Her spirit eventuallysaves them from death in the sea.

Thaddeus O'Sullivan's first feature, "December Bride"(1990). wbich won 15 intemationa! awards, illustrates tbeissues as well. It is about a tum-of-tbe-century Presby-

20 AMERICA NOVHMBER 2,

The Top Dozen "New"Irish Films on Video

CAL (1984) (Pat O'Cotinor): Young Caiholic IRA manfalls lor Protestant widow, with tragic results. JohnLynch, Helen Mirren.

CIRCLE OF FRIENDS (1994) (Pat O'Connor): Threegirlfriends face growing up and religious scruples intown near Dublin. Minnie Driver, Chris O'Donnell.

THE COMMITMENTS (1991) (Alan Parker):Wdrking-class kids in Dublin organize a soul musicband. From Rtxidy Doyle"s novel.

THE CRYING GAME (1992) {Neil Jordan): A com-passionate IRA tnan explores the last relalionsfiip ofa dead British soldier. Intrigue, with major stirprises.Stephen Rea, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker.*

HEAR MY SONG ( 1991) (Peter Chelsom): Hilarioussearch from Liverpool to Ireland for a famous tenor.Adrian Dunbar, Ned Beatty.

!N THE NAME OF THE FATHER ( 1993) (JimSheridan): Gerry Conlon and the Guildiord Four arefalsely accu.sed of an I.R.A. bombing. Daniel Day-Lewis. Emma Thompson. Pete Postlethwaite, JohnLyncli.

INTO THE WEST (1992) {Mike Newell): Two slumboys ride an enchanted white horse into the "WildWest" of rural Ireland. Written by Jim Sheridan.With Gabriel Byrne, Ellen Barkin.

MY LEFT FOOT ( 1989) (Jim Sheridan): Cerebralpalsy victim Christy Brown triumphs in life. DanielDay-Lewis, Brenda Fricker.

THE PLAYBOYS (1992) (Gilles MacKinnon): A pret-ty unwed mom in a niral village takes her timechoosing among suitors. Robin Wright, AidanQuinn, Albert Finney, Adrian Dunbar.

RAINING STONES (1993) (Ken Loach): A Belfastplumber is obsessed with buying an expensive nrstComtnonion dress for his daughter. Bruce Jones,Julie Brown. Best film at Cannes.

THE SNAPPER (1993) (Stephen Frears): In Dublin,another unwed mom refuses to name the father, withcomic results. From Roddy Doyle's book, a semi-sequel to '"The Commitments."

WIDOW'S PEAK (1994) (John Irvin): Women in con-trol in a I92n's village run by well-to-do widows.Conflict arise.s witli the arrival of a young, attractiveaddition to the group. Mia Farrow. Joan Plowright.Nalasha Richardson.

lerian commutiity and a woman who rebels against itsstrict conventions and religious laws, refusing to marryand openly living with two rival lovers.

The emergence of a vibrant women's movement has ledto an active and outspoken group of women directorswhose controversial films explore the changing status ofIrish women, gender relationships and the traditional Irishmyths about mothers und families. "Mother Ireland." adocumentary by Anne Crilly, explicitly considers theperennial use of female images, from Kathleen Ni Houli-han to the Virgin Mary, to personify the country. Crilly,based in Den^, interviews prominent Irish women aboutthis phenomenon and its psychological, social and ptiliticalimplications.

Orla Walsh's 1995 short ("Bent Out of Shape") about agay man working in a video store .satirizes Irish macho con-cepts of masculinity. It won the prize at Cork for best Irishshort film. She says that Irish female-directed films tend todeal more openly with sexual tnatters and are "dominatedby |the subject oí] abotiion and crisis pregnancies." Anexample acclaimed at several European festivals is "Hush-A-Bye Baby" (1989), a poignant love story set in Derrywith a pregnant 15-year-old heroine. A tlrst feature co-scripted and directed by Margo Harkin, it was based oninterviews with women who had experienced pregnancyoutside marriage.

Several male-directed films deal powerfully with sexu-al tensions. In Breathnach's moody, almost hypnotic"Ailsa," which cost Guiney only $4()Ü.()(K) to produce, ayoung man becomes obsessed with (but never talks to) apretty American neighbor, to the point of .stealing, readingand carefully keeping a tile of her mail. Eventually, shegoes home, marries and has a child. Shattered, he commitssuicide.

Another outstanding example Is the super-tense thriller,"Guiltrip." a ilrst film by writer-director Gerard Stembridge,prtxluced by Guiney for $1.1 million. Starring Andrew Con-nolly, a Liam Neeson look-alike, it's about a stem, psychoticmilitary officer who dominates and abuses his wife, thenpicks up and murders a flirtatious local woman and hopes toget away with it.

Yet humor, characteristically, remains a distinguishingtrait, no matter how serious the topic. Typical are two shortfilms. In Kieran Walsh's "Shooting to Stardom" (1992). astruggling Irish comic detained by British police makes tbemistake of telling the cops an anti-police joke. DamienO'Donnell's "'Tbirty Five Aside" (a winner so fiU' of ninemajor awards at international festivals) is the Buster Keaton-ish account of a nerdy new kid trying to blend in at a rau-cous school made up almost exclusively of hopeful footballplayers.

It may be a while before tbe "new wave" of Irish filmsis accessible in the United States. Irish film makers areunhappy tbat their Govemment is willing to fund filmsbut has so far shown little interest in promoting their dis-tribution. In the meantime, we'll see those deemed to havethe "best commercial possibilities." D

AMERICA NOVEMBER 2, 1996 21