As he watched the St Patrick’s day parade unfold in Springfield, Kent Brockman of The Simpsons posed an important question: “All this drinking, violence, destruction of property — are these the things we think of when we think of the Irish?” Brockman’s description of Springfield as “a town whose very conscience was washed away in a tide of beer and green vomit” will certainly ring a few bells for anyone who was reckless enough to venture into Dublin’s city center on March 17 during the Celtic Tiger years.
However, there’s more than one way to get in touch with Irish culture. Here’s a list of movies and television shows that tackle various aspects of Irish history from the last two centuries. The settings range from the fields of Connemara to outer space by way of London, Birmingham, and New York. Some items on the list would keep you busy for several weeks; others would only require an hour or two.
While it does include some all-time classics, this is not supposed to be a compilation of Ireland’s very best audiovisual products. From oddities to masterpieces, all of these selections have one thing in common: there’s a political angle that left-wing viewers will find interesting. They should all be available online, although it might require a bit of persistence to track down the more obscure ones.
Surely the best drama series that the Irish national broadcaster RTÉ has ever produced, this adaptation of James Plunkett’s novel is a wonderful reconstruction of Dublin’s social history at the time of the 1913 Lockout. While the…
Auteur: Daniel Finn
