Reminds me of 'Atonement' in that . . .
… it’s a beautifully made, extremely well-acted film, but somehow it fails to deliver any kind of emotional impact. I appreciate it on an intellectual and artistic level, just not on a human level.
shareI haven't seen this film in awhile and happened to run across it last night. I'm surprised you feel nothing while watching because overall, it's such an excruciatingly depressing movie to sit through. The mom lives in a hell--drowning in her circumstances, but too debilitatingly depressed to do anything about them. She seems like a woman, that if she lived in today's world, without the expectations women had on them to marry and have a family, she probably would've been a childless, free spirited artist somewhere. The dad was trapped in his own alcoholism, a complete failure to himself and his family. The poor kids were left to rear themselves. The only funny moment was when Frankie came home one evening to a woman crying over a note he wrote.
Just depressing.
I don't know much about Ireland in 1930 but I am surprised people dispute the authenticity of their situation. Here in the U.S. many families had it just as bad. Hell, even today, there are communities that still live like this all over. It's just not anything anyone ever wants to talk about or acknowledge.
~Keep some room in your heart for the unimaginable~
The point is FM projects his own personal experiences on Limerick as a whole which is what get's on people's nerves. My Grandmother was always dubious about his circumstances but she said that Limerick at the time was for the most part a very pleasant city.
Hey! You're not old enough to drink! Now go and die for your country!!!