With St. Patrick’s Day being celebrated in March, now’s the time to revel in everything that’s Irish whether it comes to what you eat, like Irish potatoes or corned beef and cabbage, or what you drink (green beer anyone?). But when it comes to movies, there are many that show what a wonderful and beautiful a country Ireland is, with many stories to tell or it’s past and it’s people.
Here is a quick list of 7 Irish movies you have to watch…and love.
The Quiet Man
No movie list about Irish movies would ever be complete without the 1952 classic directed by the great John Ford. John Wayne stars in one of his most memorable roles (and that’s saying a lot) as retired American boxer Sean Thornton who travels back to his hometown in Ireland to reclaim his family’s farm. In the process of doing so, he falls madly in love with Mary Kate Danaher (Maureen O’Hara), and it results in them having one of the most famous kisses in movie history. So memorable was this kiss that Steven Spielberg ended up re-enacting it in E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.
The Quiet Man also features one of the longest fight scenes in cinema, a fight that was later topped by the one between Roddy Piper and Keith David in John Carpenter’s They Live.
Waking Ned Devine
One of the most memorable Irish movies in recent memory, it tells the story about an inhabitant of the town of Tulaigh More who wins a $7 million pound jackpot in the Irish National Lottery which ends up going unclaimed. The town’s inhabitants then go on a search to find out who the winner is, and what results is one of those most charming comedies you will ever hope to see.
Waking Ned Devine ended up getting nominations from the National Board of Review, the Screen Actors Guild and the Satellite Awards, and it features a wonderful performance from the late David Kelly as Michael O’Sullivan.
In the Name of the Father
Jim Sheridan’s movie, which is based on a true story, proves to be as powerful as it is infuriating. Daniel Day Lewis stars as Gerry Conlon, one of four people wrongfully convicted in the 1974 Guilford Pub bombings, and he gives an emotionally raw performance that will have you feeling every injustice Gerry ends up experiencing. Also excellent is the late Pete Postlethwaite who plays Gerry’s father, Giuseppe Conlon, a man that is weak of body but strong in spirit. It’s a movie that is not easily forgotten as it shows the dangers of rushing to judgment, of an injustice that should have and could have been avoided, and of the importance in fighting for the truth. Some have accused In the Name of the Father of being a pro-IRA movie, but that’s not the case at all considering that the one main IRA character is portrayed as being as ruthless and cold hearted as any human can get.
Bloody Sunday
The term Bloody Sunday refers to the tragic day of January 30, 1972 when British soldiers fired on 26 unarmed civilians who were marching in protest of imprisonment without trial. 14 people died as a result, and this event has been memorialized in many ways through plays and music such as the classic U2 song “Sunday Bloody Sunday.” But when it comes to movies, few have equaled the sheer realism like Paul Greengrass’ Bloody Sunday.
As he has done with all of his movies since, Greengrass gives Bloody Sunday a documentary feel that puts you right in the middle of the action to where you are deeply affected by what you see. The movie also features a tremendous performance from James Nesbitt as Ivan Cooper, one of the main organizers of the protest. Greengrass’ work here led him to be hired to direct The Bourne Supremacy, and he has gone on to bring the same kind of emotionally immediacy to his other films like United 93 and Captain Phillips.
The Commitments
A celebration of the working class in Ireland as well as soul music, this is one of director Alan Parker’s most enjoyable movies. Based on the book of the same name by Roddy Doyle, it tells the tale of when Jimmy Rabbitte (played by Robert Arkins) put together what he saw as the world’s hardest working band with musicians from Dublin, Ireland. While some of the members are initially put off by being told they can only play soul music, feeling that they are “a little white” for it, they come together to perform one great song after another. This movie also features a must buy soundtrack where the cast, chosen for their musical abilities as opposed to their acting, sings great and energetic covers of songs like “Mustang Sally,” “Take Me to the River” and “Chain of Fools.”
Cal
Here’s a film that came out in 1984 that many people haven’t heard of. Directed by Pat O’Connor, it stars John Lynch as Cal, a young Catholic member of the IRA who participates in the murder of a British officer. Burdened by the role he played in it, he seeks out his widow to make amends. The widow is a Catholic woman named Marcella (played by Helen Mirren), and they eventually engage in a love affair which looks to eventually be undone by Cal’s guilty conscience.
Cal is a great Irish love story as a heartbreaking one. John Lynch is excellent as Cal, a man trying to free himself from a past that won’t let him go. Helen Mirren won the Best Actress Award at the 1984 Cannes Film Festival for her performance as Marcella, and that should give you an idea of how brave she is here.
The Secret of Roan Inish
Here’s a great movie for the whole family directed by renowned independent filmmaker John Sayles. It is told from the point of view of Fiona (Jeni Courtney), a young girl sent to live with her grandparents in an Irish fishing village. It is there where she learns that selkies, seals that can shed their skins and become human, reside. Years before, Fiona’s little brother was washed out to sea in a boat-shaped cradle, and it is believed that he has since been raised by seals. Fiona, upon seeing a young naked boy on the abandoned Isle of Roan Inish, becomes eager to discover if the legend of the selkies is true.
The Secret of Roan Inish proves to be one of Sayles’ most beautiful films thanks to the gorgeous cinematography by Haskell Wexler. Filmed on the actual seacoast of Ireland, it’s one of the few movies that manages to combine myth and reality in a way where they cannot be easily separated.
