Irish  history  for  

dummies  During the 16th century, King Henry VIII introduced Protestantism in Ireland by sending Scottish and English peoples in Catholic lands. Tension appeared.

Catholicism was banned and Catholics had to give up on their religion and national language: Gaelic.

Until 1921: 26 southern counties became a new state: Eire, and 6 northern countries remained part of the United Kingdom (Ulster).

 

Les  Arcs  film  festival  2014  

 

The  2014  Focus  was  dedicated   to  Ireland.   We   saw   several   movies  from  the  selection  and  decided  to  give   you   an   idea   of   Irish   cinema  and   the   image   it   gives   of   this  fantastic  but  complex  country.  

 

The  European  section  1ére  ES  

Northern Ireland was still separated between Protestants Unionists who wanted Union and were loyal to the Queen, and Catholics Nationalists who wanted Ulster to be reunited with Eire.

The Troubles: the conflict between Catholics, helped by the Irish Republican Army (IRA), usually with terrorist activity, and Protestants, supported by the British Army

Bloody Sunday: on January 30th 1972, 13 peaceful demonstrators marching for independence were shot down by the British Army; 14 civilians were wounded.

On April 10th 1998: the Good Friday Agreement created an Assembly for both Catholics and Protestants.

The IRA has been dissolved but 100 peace lines have been built to separate Catholics and Protestants districts.

   

In  the  Name  of  the  Father  (1993)    

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In the Name of the Father is a movie about the true story of an Irishman who decided to try his luck in London during the Troubles. He stole money from a prostitute with his friend. Unfortunately a shell exploded a few minutes after in the same place. They were accused of carrying out an IRA attack. All of his friends and family were convicted and sent to different English prisons. His father wanted to be imprisoned with his son. Many months later, the real culprit was arrested but the two men were not free. His father felt very sick during the winter. A young lawyer decided to help them and to ask for the revision of the trial.

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Reviews: In the Name of the

Father shows us a dark image of the British and mostly of London where there are many attacks. British civilians reject Irish people unfairly and their justice system does not hesitate to accuse innocent people because of their home country. It's a Manichean vision of the conflict that simplifies a complex situation.

In the Name of the Father is an exceptional movie. It describes in a gripping way the conflict between the Irish and the English. It´s a touching movie which does not give a lot of hope, but we understand the conflict and we want to fight the injustice with the characters of the movie. It was very interesting but a bit violent. The main actor (Daniel Day Lewis) was touching and very simple in his part.

Good  Vibrations  (2012)  During the Troubles, Terry Hooley decided to open a record store. After a few years the type of records that you could buy in this store did not interest anyone, which is why Terry decided to go to a punk music concert. The band fascinated him and he became the father of punk music in Ireland. Review: I think it’s a good movie and it gives an interesting side of the war in Northern Ireland. Despite the war, musicians continue to do concerts all over Ulster. The majority of songs is good and gives rhythm to the film and it shows it’s a musical movie. However, the only snag is that there are too many ellipses and the story is complicated to understand sometimes. So, if you are crazy about Ireland and punk music, you should not hesitate! It’s not the film of the year but it’s nonetheless amazing.