Irish pride is everywhere these days. From Cillian Murphy stating he’s a proud Irishman while accepting his Oscar this year, to the younger generation reducing people to tears on TikTok because they poured a certain stout badly… into the wrong glass… and then drank it too soon. Yes, there’s a lot of keepers of those particular gates.
If you want more examples of Irish pride, Frank Mannion’s documentary covers as much as you could think of. Tech, politics, film, music, poetry, wine, GAA, whiskey, horseracing, pubs and many, many, many more subjects are covered in the hefty two-hour running length. Contributors include Jeremy Irons, Michael D. Higgins, Emma Dabiri, Usain Bolt (no, he’s never been) and Pierce Brosnan, as well as more "on the fly" chats with film stars Andrew Scott, Jessie Buckley, Ciaran Hinds, Brendan Gleeson and Andrew Scott.
On the theme of film, highlights include renowned cinephile, President Higgins giving us the history of the tax scheme that led to Ireland becoming such a popular shooting location for so many productions, creating an industry that barely existed here before 1995. It’s also a delight to see non-Irishman, actor Jeremy Irons, express his love for the country, words that feel genuine coming from someone who actually made the decision to live here.
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It's not all "Sure aren’t we great". We briefly touch on the housing crisis, alcoholism, the prejudice many have experienced through Irish diaspora and the prejudice people like Emma Dabiri faced growing up being the only Irish black girl in school. Her account is a welcome splash of cold water on the viewer's face.
It’s expansive - which is expected when a filmmaker is trying to answer the question, "What is quintessentially Irish?", but one wonders if some elements could be shaved down into something more focused. The film opens with a solid ten minutes of Pierce Brosnan giving a rundown of his career. Pierce is a charismatic presence but this is pushing it. Another example of "pushing it" is the segment featuring people unfamiliar with the Irish language trying to pronounce Irish names. Saoirse Ronan did not sit through multiple appearances on US chat shows for this still to be a thing.
Despite at times feeling closer to something you might watch on a tour of a whiskey distillery or a long-haul flight to Ireland, there’s a nice documentary in there. Maybe it’s several short documentaries? Plenty of thoughtful answers and interesting anecdotes, but you really have to wade your way through some rambling tangents to get there.
