 |
| A painting of Jimmy Gralton. |
Perhaps following the success of his latest film Ken Loach
can be persuaded to rescind his claim that (2014) will be his last
feature film? Along with regular’s producer Rebecca O’Brien and writer Paul
Laverty Britain’s greatest living director has made a welcome follow up to his
award winning homage to communism The
Wind that Shakes the Barley (2006). In this Loach drew a parallel between
the battle for freedom and democracy in Spain during its Civil War 1936 -1939
(see
Land of Freedom 1995) and the
Irish War of Independence (1919-1921), and the subsequent Civil War
(1921-1922). It raised the question of what kind of Ireland was being fought
for? As the director said ‘
both in Spain
and Ireland there were two questions. The first in Spain, was how do we beat
the Fascists? And in Ireland, how do we get the imperialists out? Then the
question was, if we achieve that, what kind of society could we create? If
you’re risking your life for something, you want to know what you’re risking it
for. It’s a very political event of real consequence’
From James Connolly’s
famous 1897 essay Socialism and Nationalism. ‘
If you remove the English army tomorrow and hoist the green flag over
Dublin Castle, unless you organise a socialist Republic, your effects will be
in vain, England will still rule you through her landlords, capitalists and
commercial institutions’. Change the ‘English army’ to the Westminster
government, and obviously change the flag, and Connolly’s quote could refer to
Scottish independence!!
 |
| Persuaded by the local youngsters to rebuild the hall. |
In this new piece of work Loach tackles a rather smaller
part of Irish history but no less important, the story of Jimmy Gralton (Barry
Ward) and his community hall in County Leitrim originally named after two of
the leaders of the failed 1916 Easter Rising Padraig Pearce and James Connolly
and built by Gralton in the 1920’s. Laverty’s screenplay is based on the true
story of Gralton who was an Irish communist leader who travelled to America and
became an US citizen in 1909 after his life was put in danger. Ten years after
the end of the Irish Civil War (1922 -1923) he returns to Ireland to work on
his mother’s farm following his brother’s death. Against his wishes and knowing
it would open old wounds, he is persuaded by the local youngsters bored with
their mundane lives to renovate and reopen the hall as a place of culture, art,
sport and dancing much to the disgust of the ‘masters and pastors’ the local
landowners and the Catholic Church in the form of the formidable Father Sheridan
(Jim Norton) who believe that the hall will become a hotbed of socialist
revolution. Interestingly this has also
been performed theatrically based on a play by Donal O’Kelly.
 |
| Do we stay open? |
Jimmy Gralton witnessed America’s Great Depression 1923-1933
and returned to Ireland to witness its own complicated divisions not just
politically but religiously. He was deported from Ireland in 1933 as an
‘undesirable alien’, without a trial, for little more than harbouring thoughts
of freedom and fairness. The film makes it quite clear that below the pomp and
circumstance of organised religion Christ’s teachings are nothing more than
socialism under a different heading i.e. supporting the working class, the underprivileged,
the sick and the old and helping others where needed, with the church originally
providing education for children, way before the upper class thought it
necessary to educate the ‘lower’ class. The movie does give a parallel with
what is happening today between the privileged few and the rest of us, and the way
ordinary people are treated by the government and their rich supporters -
‘
landlords,
capitalists and commercial institutions’. Great Britain has recently seen a
million people on strike and the government’s attempt to stop the right of
people to withdraw there labour brought on by the austerity measures which deliberately
set out to punish ordinary people. Unbelievably we get people grizzling about
their children having to miss a day at school! They should think themselves
lucky to have free education! If people do not protest at times then we may not
have?
Or as Ken Loach put it ‘the
central message of Jimmy’s Hall is that it is vital to give space to “dissident
voices” who oppose the neoliberal, free market consensus
.
 |
| Barry Wood as Gralton with.... |
 |
| ....Simone Kirby as Oonagh.... |
 |
| and Jim Norton as Father Sheridan. |
With Loach’s realist direction, Laverty’s superbly rich
writing skills and the authentic period detail, this wee drama is another great
addition to Loach’s oeuvre and hopefully not his last feature film - what would I have to look forward too,
cinematically at least, very few films stir my political juices quite as much
as Ken’s?
No comments:
Post a Comment