Jones-25

An excellent film that asks us to confront the fundamental issues involved when an authority acts to control the day-to-day decisions of families. In this case the authority is exerted by the clergy but could just as easily have been from the government, a political party, community standards and values, military orders etc. A village priest demands that a young girl be sent to a Catholic school. Her mother declares that the choice of which school to send her to will be made by her parents, not by the church. Conflict develops in which the village society chooses sides and treats its opponents viciously. Her husband wavers between love of his family and submission to church authority and local opinion, setting up a second conflict which we are forced to confront and evaluate. Each viewpoint, of mother, husband and priest is presented honestly and unflinchingly and the ending is equally honest: it does not insult us by giving us a comfortable all-is-forgiven happy-ever-after resolution. We come away with serious issues to be thought about. The script and acting are excellent and the film is an accurate portrayal of an Irish village of the period; having grown up in the Irish countryside in the 1940s-1950s I can vouch for its accuracy. There is none of the Oirishness or comic characters of Ned Devine; these are real people involved in a conflict that derives from each having a commitment to principles. This is a thought-provoking film set in a particular time and place but dealing with important human issues. No one from Ireland should be in the least embarrassed with the presentation. Having seen it in Dublin in June 1999, I sincerely hope it will be widely distributed in the near future.