The ‘Troubles’ With Film

LONDON — Thirty years of conflict, much of it violent, has cast a long shadow on Irish-made films. “The Troubles,” as this political and religious strife is known, have been a dominant theme; on the big screen, the island of Ireland is often depicted as a place of warring communities.

“It gets to the stage where you think, oh no, not another terrorist movie,” says Sheamus Smith, the Irish government’s official film censor.

All this may be about to change. In the wake of last week’s historic accord between Northern Ireland’s political parties, all Ireland can now look forward to more of its stories that have nothing to do with the Troubles being told on film.

And the tentative optimism surrounding the newly declared peace agreement seems likely to usher in a new era of increased investment in Northern Ireland-made films. Though last year was an unusually busy year for production, terrorist incidents have made potential investors nervous about films set in Belfast and outlying areas of Northern Ireland.

“I imagine [the agreement] will open up a new area of investment potential,” says Smith. “It’s a good thing. There’s beautiful countryside in Northern Ireland which has been underutilized on film. Now I think [filmmakers] will be more keen to go there.”

Though it has not yet been spelled out in the fine print of the peace accord, Smith feels confident there will be future cross-border tax agreements for film investors both in the independent Irish Republic and in Northern Ireland, which remains a British province.

It seems certain that fewer films made on either side of the border will deal with the Troubles, though in recent years there has been a glut. It has included Jim Sheridan’s “In the Name of the Father” (1993) and “The Boxer” (1997), both starring Daniel Day-Lewis; “Some Mother’s Son” (1996), with Helen Mirren as the mother of a young man imprisoned for IRA activities; and “Nothing Personal” (1995) about warring Republican and Loyalist factions in Belfast in 1975.

Yet on the whole, these films failed to make a commercial impact. “People here didn’t want to go and see them,” says Mary Crotty, a leading Dublin-based film publicist.

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Then there was “The Devil’s Own,” a Hollywood fiasco last year starring Brad Pitt as an IRA man trying to buy missiles in New York for his cause. The film was widely derided in Ireland and Britain as simplistic.

“It was a typical example of how people in the States have misunderstood the problem here in Ireland,” says Smith.

The exception to this rule was “Michael Collins,” the biographical film about one of the republic’s founding fathers. It was financed by major studio money and featured a starry cast headed by Liam Neeson and Julia Roberts.

“That film was popular,” Crotty notes. “It was shot in Dublin and it was about such a historic time for Ireland. People were intrigued to see it.” Smith agrees: “ ‘Michael Collins’ was the classic Troubles movie.”

At this point there is only one Troubles-related film in the pipeline: “Titanic Town,” which was shot in Belfast last year. Set in that city during the 1970s, it features Julie Walters as a middle-aged woman who, when a friend is accidentally killed in the cross-fire of civil war, embarks on a one-woman crusade to stop hostilities between the IRA and the British government.

The new peace agreement could be said to have dated “Titanic Town” overnight, and a spokeswoman for the film confirms it has yet to find a distributor.

What seems more likely is that filmmakers in the province will look to stories that have nothing to do with the Troubles. One such filmmaker is Tim Loane, nominated for a short-film Oscar this year for “Dance Lexie Dance.” It dealt with a grieving widower and his young daughter, who learn to face life again through the girl’s ambition to become a member of the Riverdance troupe.

“I’m really glad it was nominated,” says Loane. “It may hopefully raise the possibility of getting more films made in Northern Ireland. And ‘Dance Lexie Dance’ is itself an argument about how films and stories can be told in Northern Ireland. It proves you don’t require characters with balaclavas [the ski masks worn by terrorists to hide their identity] and guns.”

This attitude coincides with widely held feelings within the film industry in Northern Ireland. When this reporter visited the province late last year, many filmmakers and crew members voiced their impatience and frustration with the number of films that dealt directly with the civil war. The mood seemed to be in favor of shifting the balance.

Richard Taylor, chief executive of the Belfast-based Northern Ireland Film Commission, says the commission has encouraged both Troubles-related scripts and stories that have nothing to do with the province’s war-torn past.

Though ordinary people from both parts of Ireland are understandably guarded in their optimism about the peace agreement, it seems likely that the new accord will draw to a close an era of films that dwell solely on the country’s civil strife.

“A lot of people here simply hate films like that, and wouldn’t consider going to see them,” says Crotty. Admits Smith: “I’m tired of looking at movies about the Troubles in Northern Ireland. And we’ve had an awful lot of them.”

“But I believe that whole [genre] has run its course anyway,” Crotty agrees.

And in Northern Ireland, a potential new era for film beckons. “I hope the climate becomes more attractive to all investors, whether from Ireland or from outside,” says Smith.

Optimism on this front mirrors all Ireland’s hopes for the peace agreement itself. Says Crotty: “Everyone’s hoping it’s going to work.”