I think the Irish (at least some of them) are a bit oversensitive about their past as one of Europe's poorest countries and mix up being poor with being backward.
I've met several people during my last visit there who hated to be reminded of the '70's when I used to visit Ireland quite regularly.
The same discussion goes on at the board about "The Quiet Man".
I do not see this portrayal of backwardness in this movie. It shows Ireland quite as it used to be, as far as I know from my visits.
The scene with the cows. If you mean the stupid boy, who is surprised to see cows on the road. That was a member from the Liverpool band. Probably lived all his live there and it was the first live cow he ever saw as a city boy.
And if you mean that leading cows over the road from the field to the stable or vice versa. That was even in the seventies common practice. I once saw cows driven into a village to the local butcher to be slaughtered. These days you might consider that backward, but it was reality then.
Another scene in this movie which you might consider backward, but for me very recognisable, was when the Bernard Hill character uses his tractor to go to town. In those days a lot of farmer people could not afford a car and the tractor was the only means of 'fast' transport. On sundays, I saw whole families going to church by tractor.
Ireland has produced some of the best writers, musicians and scientists in history. People were poor, because they were held back by England and the Catholic Church, not because they were backward.
What if this as good as it gets?
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