Another Post for St. Patrick's Day - Movie Review - BELFAST

The film, Belfast, was inspired by Kenneth Branagh's childhood in that city in the North of Ireland. His family moved when he was a child, partly to escape the mounting violence. Please forgive my conversational as opposed to 'historical' undersanding of the 'troubles,' but as I understood it, When England invaded and occupied Ireland, the British took the land and established a land owning plantation-style elite. The original Irish dwellers were forced to pay rents kind of like share-croppers in the US. In the North, the original population was driven out and replaced by displaced Scots from the land invaded and occupied by the British in Scotland. The Scots were strongly Protestant and there were long smoldering religious divides between Catholics and Protestants deriving from the Protestant Reformation.

The ongoing rebellious attempts by the Southern Republican Irish to take back their country made a fractious border between the Scots Protestant Irish in the industrial North, which depended on Britain for protection and commerce and the Catholic Republican Irish in athe agrarian and rural South that wanted the Britishh out. The British had long brutalized the Catholic Irish, forbidding them their native language, Gaelic, their religion, and forcing them off their land when they couldn't keep up the rents. In particular, in 1844, after a million Irish died of a famine caused by the failure of the potato crop (due to a black fungus) which kept them alive as the produce of their land was shipped overseas to England, the anger and rebellious spirit rose. The Irish had already tried many times to repel the British from their land, but the superior military might of the British Empire had crushed them and they lived under a form of martial law to keep them from rebeling again. Nonetheless, in the early years of the 1900's there was the Easter Rebellion, which again ended in defeat for the Irish but they never stopped struggling and their constant efforts finally resulted in a peace treaty and Independence.

The Northern Scots/Irish Protestants however, were allied to England in the pact and dreaded being absorbed into a Southern Catholic Republic. So the border was a constant source of tectonic plate like pressure and violent outbreaks.

As Faulkner once said, "The past isn't over, it isn't even past." And that is true of the North/South problems in Ireland. Although the Irish had finally achieved Replican Independence in the South, the North remained allied with England. And recently the Brexit problem caused problems again because Southern Republic of Ireland voted to remain in the Economic Union and the North voted to exit the EU along with England. Now the border had to harden again to comply with EU trade laws.

But back to our movie - In the film, one of the many events of violence of the Protestant Scots Irish agains the Catholics living in the border territories was happening. Bricks were thrown through homes identified as belonging to Catholics, and fire bombs were thrown and Catholic families were terrified. Although the family at the center of the film were Protestants they, too, were in danger from the mobs because the father refused to join up with the Protestant terrorist gangs. He worked in England. The heartbreaking wrench that tore the family apart when they had to move is the heart of the story, and it is the heart of the Irish story in general. More Irish live in in other countries than in Ireland now from the mass migrations forced by the many troubles. Irish fled to America, Australia, and other places, particularly after the famine. By the way, the Grandfather was played by Ciaran Hinds who was also born in Belfast, Ireland like Kenneth Brahagh. When he dies, the minister says, "Do not feel sorrow that he has died, feel happiness that he lived." I think that is beautiful although you cannot avoid the sorrow of the loss of those you love no matter how you may celebrate their lives.

Branagh's film beautifully captures the complexities and the great acting of veteran stars such as Judi Dench, take us to the soul of the stories that stand for the stories of so many Irish. The film has been nominated for many awards and I give it my award for ART and BEAUTY. I watched it os a rental for $5 on amazon prime. I have seen a LOT of Irish movies and read a lot of Irish books as my mother is of Irish descent and my daughter is named for the half dozen female ancestors from the Irish line, Lavinia. The first Lavinia who came here was a Johnson, and a Scots Protestant from the North. The one my daughter was named for, Lavinia Lyons, married an Irish Catholic named Joseph Lyons who was excommunicated from the Catholic Church for marrying outside the faith. They lived in Philadelphia. Lavinia (from the McQuiston family) raised two of the orphaned daughters of her sister, Sarah, who died young in the aftermath of our Influenza epidemic after World War I.

Although it was a devaasting tearing away from family, family history, culture, language, community and all that humans hold dear, I am grateful all my immigrant ancestors made the sacrifice and embarked on the great adventure that brought me and their many descendants here to The United States. I took my daughter to Ireland when she was in her early teens. We have both now visited all the countries of our origins: Ireland, England, Scotland, and Germany. Also I have visited Sweden and Denmark (our 17 percent Scandinavia dna origin). My heart and my home feel fully American but I honor my ancestors.

If you can, try to see this film - it is magnificent! Happy Trails at home and abroad! Jo Ann