With St. Patrick’s Day fast approaching (and our livers recoiling in proportion), what better time to celebrate the glories of the tiny nation that is Ireland? Aside from our notorious drunken behaviour, this country has also managed to produce some distinguished literary figures (James Joyce, Samuel Beckett, Oscar Wilde, to name a few). Even in music U2 (pictured left) are a house hold name. In cinema Pierce Brosnan and Liam Neeson have graced the acting world. But what of Ireland as a filmmaking nation?

There are more film courses in this country than necessary. Throw a stone in Dublin and you’re likely to strike an aspiring director. But most of the low-budget films in Ireland aren’t even successful in the domestic box office, often due to being Irish imitations of established hits (e.g. the “Irish Shallow Grave”), and thus being of no international interest. The Wind that Shakes the Barley has been receiving awards and gets a limited release in the US this weekend, appropriately, but is nevertheless flawed. However, there have been a few breakout hits, either commercially or artistically, that deserve to be added to the canon of Irish achievements.

These films are those that received substantial funding from Ireland, and were either produced by or explicitly about the emerald isle. Hence, the omission of The Crying Game, despite its brilliance.

Adam and Paul

This recent addition to Irish cinema is a witty yet sombre story of a day in the lives of two Dublin junkies. They trudge through the city, their cravings getting them into disastrous situations. They stumble across the wake of a friend whose death was somehow related to them. Newcomer Lenny Abrahamson adopts the tragi-comedy and resonant silences that made Beckett’s plays so kinetic with meaning, while occasionally employing sensual visuals, making it a 21st century Irish tale.

The Commitments

This endearing comedy revived a flagging national film industry in the early 90s. Backed by an internationally recognised director (Alan Parker, director of Midnight Express, and…er… Fame) and based on the popular novel of profane writer Roddy Doyle, it concerned a young man living in the poor area of Northern Dublin, who sets up a soul band. it’s the first film to truly capture the hilarity and madness that is being a Dub, and has far more heart than the sterile Dreamgirls. Plus every Irish household is obliged by law to own a copy of The Commitments soundtrack.

The General

No, Buster Keaton was not Irish. Rather, the Irish media has a habit of labelling its gangsters with titles. This film portrays the life of Martin “The General” Cahill, a notorious Dublin criminal, known for his wit as much as his crimes. He played to the media, and learned as much about legal loopholes as the average lawyer. And in his spare time he stole gold, diamonds, and priceless paintings. Played by the wonderful Brendan Gleeson (Gangs of New York, AI, Braveheart), Cahill is shown to be both a genius and a brutal thug. John Boorman’s film is one of the most in-depth portrayals of the ambiguous existence of a criminal since Goodfellas.

My Left Foot

This is the father of Irish cinema, the first film to put the native industry on the international map. It was nominated for several of the main Oscars in 1990. Director Jim Sheridan made his feature film debut by adapting the memoirs of cerebral palsy victim and artist Christy Brown. Its greatness is due to being distinctly Irish, while managing to portray a disabled person without resorting to the sentimental conventions of TV movies. Christy Brown was as frustrated and as tough as Dublin at the time, and Daniel Day Lewis was astoundingly convincing in his Oscar-winning lead role (Day Lewis apparently never broke character during the filming period). Brenda Fricker also claimed a golden statuette as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Christy’s sympathetic mother.

The Butcher Boy

By the mid 90s, director Neil Jordan had already established himself. Through the success of The Crying Game, he went on to make the sexually ambiguous Interview with the Vampire, and the flawed Irish epic Michael Collins. Jordan is a man who cannot escape Ireland’s clutches, and returned to indigenous tales to adapt a novel by bog-gothic writer Patrick McCabe. The Butcher Boy is one of the most faithful adaptations I’ve ever seen. It follows Francie Brady, a disturbed child from a dysfunctional 60’s village household, who runs by the rules of his own demented delusions. When his laws clash with those of repressed and repressive Ireland, we get a story that is funny and simultaneously grotesque, and utterly distinct.

I should also give a shout out to Pavee Lackeen for dealing with the Irish itinerant community in a touching manner, and Paul Greengrass’s Bloody Sunday for being the best film about the “Troubles” of Northern Ireland.

Of course, we’ve made plenty of stinkers too. too many for my liking. Last year saw John Boorman’s The Tiger’s Tail, a scathing assault on the affluence of modern Ireland, and a ham-fisted raving of an old man out of synch with modern life. Bloom was an attempted adaptation of Joyce’s Ulysses, and felt more like a stage performance, so lacking it was in visual style. And then there was Ordinary Decent Criminal, pictured left, an “international” version of The General, with Kevin Spacey donning a dodgy Irish accent to play the Cahill figure. the film was as funny and as celebrated as a train crash.

But I’d like to finish by paying tribute to Hollywood. We all know they don’t really care about authenticity, but when it comes to us Irish they’re particularly bad, employing Oirish accents and phrases we haven’t used in centuries. From The Quiet Man to Tom and Nicole’s terrible performances in Far and Away, I thank you Hollywood. For without your incompetence, this nation would never keep trying to make that one hit that overshadows your latest vacuous blockbuster.

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