Celebrating Irish Culture and History Through Film
/Saint Patrick’s Day is not just a day to wear green, see a parade, and drink Guinness. It commemorates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland and marks the death of Saint Patrick, the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland.
The Irish have observed Saint Patrick’s Day as a religious holiday for more than 1,000 years, and the celebration came to America in the mid-19th century as Irish immigrants traveled across the Atlantic to escape the Great Potato Famine. They faced hardships like prejudice and poverty, and March 17 was a day they could show their ethnic pride and celebrate their culture.
Tomorrow, as you as you feast on corned beef and cabbage, join us in remembering the history behind the celebration. Check out these films to learn more about Irish history and the Irish American experience.
“Belfast” (2021)
Let’s start with Kenneth Branagh’s critically acclaimed semi-autobiographical film nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture. The coming-of-age drama stars Jude Hill as Buddy, a child growing up in Belfast at the start of the 30-year conflict known as The Troubles. Buddy’s Protestant family lives peacefully on the same block as Catholic families until Protestant loyalists begin attacking Catholic homes and businesses in August 1969. Caitríona Balfe and Jamie Dornan play Buddy’s parents, while Ciarán Hinds and Judi Dench play his grandparents.
“Black 47” (2018)
This historical thriller starring James Frecheville, Hugo Weaving, Stephen Rea, and Jim Broadbent was a big hit in Ireland. The title refers to the most devastating year of the Great Potato Famine – 1847. It follows an Irish soldier who abandons his overseas post to return home and tend to his starving family. Upon his return, he is devastated to see the effect the famine has had on his country, and he seeks revenge on the people he blames for the deaths of his family members.
“Brooklyn” (2015)
There are many films about the Irish American immigration experience, but only one stars the phenomenal Irish-American actress Saoirse Ronan. “Brooklyn,” based on the 2009 novel of the same name by Colm Tóibín, stars Ronan as Eilis Lacey, a young Irishwoman who emigrates to Brooklyn in search of work in the 1950s. She is homesick at first then meets and falls in love with an Italian American plumber named Tony. A family tragedy back in Ireland forces her to choose whether to move back home or start a family with Tony in Brooklyn.
If you are interested in learning more about the Irish-American immigrant experience, consider adding these films to your watch list: “Far and Away” (1992), “Gangs of New York” (2002), Jim Sheridan’s “In America” (2002), and “The Molly Maguires” (1970).
“Philomena” (2013)
Judi Dench stars in Stephen Frears’ biographical drama about Philomena Lee. Today, Lee is a spokesperson for adoption rights, but in the 1950s she was an unwed mother living and working unpaid at a Magdalene laundry. Hundreds of these institutions existed across the United Kingdom, housing women who became pregnant outside of marriage and had nowhere else to go. When Lee was 22, the nuns forced her to sell her three-year-old son to a family in the United States, and she never saw him again. Frears also directed lighter Irish fare, including “The Snapper” (1993) and “The Van” (1996), which are part of the comedic “Barrytown Trilogy” that began with “The Commitments” (1991).
“Once” (2007)
This modern musical tells the story of a singer/songwriter (Glen Hansard) and a Czech immigrant (Markéta Irglová) who meet and fall in love in Dublin while writing and recording songs together. The film was made on a shoe-string budget of $150,000 and went on to earn over $23 million at the box office. It also won an Oscar for Best Song (“Falling Slowly”) and inspired a Broadway musical that won eight Tony Awards including Best Musical.
If you are a fan of love stories set in Ireland, you may also want to check out “Circle of Friends” (1995), based on the 1990 novel of the same name, and Neil Jordan’s romantic fantasy film “Ondine” (2009).
“The Wind That Shakes the Barley” (2006)
This drama set during the Irish War of Independence (1919-1921) and the subsequent Irish Civil War (1922-1923) follows two brothers who join the Irish Republican Army to fight for independence from the United Kingdom. Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney star in this critically acclaimed film that took home the Palme d’Or at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival.
“Michael Collins” (1996)
Prolific Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan directed this biographical drama starring Liam Neeson as Irish revolutionary Michael Collins. He was a key figure in the Irish struggle for independence and was Chairman of the Provisional Government of the Irish Free State from January 1922 until his death in August 1922. Jordan also directed 1992’s “The Crying Game,” about the relationship between a member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) and a transgender woman.
“In the Name of the Father” (1993)
Jim Sheridan has directed many critically acclaimed films about Ireland, including three starring Daniel Day-Lewis: “My Left Foot” (1989), about Irish artist Christy Brown; “The Boxer” (1997), which centers on a boxer and former IRA volunteer trying to stay on the right side of the law; and “In the Name of the Father,” a drama that tells the true story of the Guildford Four. In 1974, pub bombings in Guildford, England, wounded 65 people and left four British soldiers and a civilian dead. Four men were wrongfully convicted of the attacks and spent a decade and a half in prison.
“The Quiet Man” (1952)
John Ford won his fourth Oscar for this romantic comedy-drama starring John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. Filmed on location in Mayo and Galway, “The Quiet Man” is famous for its gorgeous shots of the Irish countryside. There is even a bridge in Galway known as “The Quiet Man Bridge” that has become a tourist attraction. If you want to feel like you’re in Ireland without actually hopping on a plane, then this is the film for you.
