When is Ireland? Where is Ireland?

When is Ireland:

This film was made in 2006. While the film is as far as I know historically accurate (prisoners really did show their hands in photos in order to document missing fingers), it reconstructs the past to project Ireland and Northern Ireland's future. This is something I didn't notice the first time I viewed this film. For example, when the protagonists are captured and taken to prison Damien requests to be treated as a political prisoner. This recalls the hunger strikes of IRA members in the 80's, a call for legitimization.

When one cell of prisoners get left behind, I couldn't help but think of partition and Northern Ireland. At this moment in the film, after seeing Teddy get tortured, my emotional response was, "He held important information, the whole group could have been caught, they should have left them." By this response I justified the partition, or at least made sense of it. Similarly, the court scene, reflects Ireland's struggle separating itself from Britain. Like the allotment of the basket of groceries, Ireland hoped to be a welfare state. In this scene, there is a direct disagreement between classes, and maybe even between the rural and the urban. These are continual issues in Irish politics.

To me this film showed justification for each side of the argument. I wouldn't call the film neutral though, it pulls the viewer beyond this. In the end, I understood why Damien felt he couldn't betray the men, especially since he killed Chris Reilly, but I didn't like him for it. I left the film with vicarious regret. To me, because I was attached to Sinead, I found family to be more important than nationalistic violence. This film is about nationalism, and it uses Irish history to apply a specific theoretical take. The film largely ignores the civil rights issues that caused the Irish to organize, instead, each new member is converted by witnessing an act of violence. This frames the issue on human emotions, and not causation.

Where is Ireland:

Ulster is tricky. The Brits have been there a long time. Is Northern Irish a category in itself? Can a protestant be Northern Irish?

I am fascinated by the train conductor and his inclusion in this story. The rail lines cross the whole island, and would be bisected by partition.

In contrast, the house is stationary. There is a lineage connection with the land. The grandmother refuses to leave. The funeral is the first time we see inside the house. If Ireland is represented by the home, what does this say about the revolution? Later the house burns. At the end of the film, Teddy leaves the space of the house and Sinead weeps there. This is a division. From the beginning of the film, I never felt safe at the house, and the first violent act occurs there.

In "Space and the Irish Cultural Imagination," Smyth discusses Foucault's argument of dwelling in terms of functionality. (p. 7) This home does not function as a home normally would: as sanctuary, rest, of household, of family. It is dual leveled: psychically, and culturally/mentally/emotionally. The house is host to some of the most emotional moments in the film (Sinead at the end, the beginning killing, the house burning, the grandmother insisting on staying, etc.). Ireland is dual leveled. For rural farmers there is an especially strong connect between the land and sustenance, but there is also the notion of "Home Rule" and for fun let's play with "Dwelling Rule." Government functioning in reassurance, self-representation, reflecting cultural values. With little critique of the feudal system, I think the film exists mostly in this "functioning" space.

(The picture is of Ian Paisley and Martin McGuinness. Some people have responded to consociational democracy negatively, hence the "Chuckle Brothers" nickname)