Last Friday the members of my Irish class viewed the feature film "Kings." The movie is mostly in Irish-Gaelic, with a smattering of English. When Irish is spoken, there are subtitles in English. One of the principal actors in this film is Colm Meaney, the noted actor famous for his Star Trek role. Meaney was born in Dublin and surely studied Irish as he went through the Irish school system. He seems to speak Irish fluently and naturally in the film.
Over all, I wasn't crazy about this movie. The setting was London, where Irish ex-patriots (from Connemara) were at the wake and funeral of one of their old gang. The movie is soaked in despair and alcohol, and seems to play on old Irish stereotypes. Of course, there is a kernel of truth in stereotypes and for too long the Irish culture (and Irish-American culture) have played up the glories of alcohol. And too often the underbelly of that alcohol-soaked culture is ignored.
The movie had many good elements to it, not least of which was the acting of Colm Meaney. But the movie seemed so devoid of hope--and we can't live without hope.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment