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Irish Accent

Cinema-crazy Celts

By John Corry


アイルランド人は映画好き

若者人口が多いためか、悪天候が多いためか、アイルランド人はヨーロッパ諸国の中で最も頻繁に映画館を訪れる国民です。最近はハリウッドで活躍するアイルランド人監督や俳優も増え、政府は地元の映画産業の支援を積極的に行なっています。今週は、アイルランドの映画事情をレポートします。

One characteristic of the Irishis their passion for the arts. Literature, poetry, music and dance all find welcoming audiences throughout Ireland. The cinema is no exception, where even a clinical observer would classify the Irish as movie mad. We still refer to movies as the "films."

The statistics bear it out clearly. Ireland has had the highest rate of cinema attendance in Europe for some time. In 2000, the average Irish person went to the cinema more frequently than any other country in Europe, approximately 4.1 times per person. This is over 3 times more often than a Finnish or a Greek person. To put it more clearly in perspective, the average number of times a Japanese person tried out a movie in 1998 was 1.2 times.

Why are the Irish obsessed with the cinema? You can put forward several reasons. Perhaps it is because the majority of our population is under 25, or the weather is so bad that we are forced to find entertainment indoors.

The genesis of the indigenous Irish film industry was in either American or British films being located in Ireland. The American interpretation of Ireland leaned toward the romanticized, corny version such as in John Ford's 1952 film "The Quiet Man" starring John Wayne. The British penchant was to portray the Irishman as the bad guy, the drunk or the violent stereotype. Although these films are enjoyable, they were never viewed by Irish audiences as representative or accurate. Native Irish directors tried to redress this partial view.

However, the best Irish directors found it difficult to source funding for their projects within Ireland, and were forced to move overseas. Irish directors such as Neil Jordan ("Interview with a Vampire," "The Crying Game") had to go overseas to achieve their status as skillful directors.

However, at present the situation is changing remarkably for the positive in the Irish film industry, and two key factors are contributing to the shift.

One is the success currently enjoyed by the Irish acting community in international films, which is then being reinvested into indigenous productions. The second is the generous financial support now on offer from the Irish government to attract productions from overseas, and to encourage young Irish filmmakers.

Irish actors and actresses are now very much in vogue in many of the mainstream Hollywood blockbusters. Liam Neeson is one of my favorite actors with his remarkable portrayal of Oskar Schindler in Steven Spielberg's "Schindler's List." However, it was not possible to predict that he would take the role of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn in "Star Wars: Episode 1 / The Phantom Menace."

Not many people realized until recently that James Bond is Irish. The latest incarnation of 007 is played successfully by the Irish actor Pierce Brosnan. Right now, you can find Brosnan working and acting in the Irish drama "Evelyn," which began shooting in Dublin in October. Based on a true story, Brosnan will star as an Irishman who fought a long drawn-out battle with the government to overturn an arcane custody law, and with the Catholic Church to recover his children after his wife leaves him. The film will be produced by Irish Dreamtime, the production company run by Brosnan.

This is a worthy trait of some of the more successful Irish actors, to use their success in Hollywood films as a means to finance films produced in Ireland, often with their own production companies.

Hopefully, the next successful generation of Irish actors will include Irish actresses who reach the top ranks. My tip is that the most commercially successful Irish actress over the next five years will be Samantha Mumba. She is one of the new generation of Irish stars that is taking Hollywood by storm. This 18-year-old beautiful young black Irish pop singer has landed a starring role in Steven Spielberg's new film "The Time Machine." The film is based on the novel by H.G. Wells and is due for release in February 2002.

The native film industry in Ireland itself is thriving at present. Generous tax incentives offered by the government have brought high-profile filmmakers to film on our shores, resulting in international hits such as "Braveheart" and "Saving Private Ryan." The strategy is to have local Irish cinema professionals benefit from the learning experience of blockbuster-type films. The future for Irish film is looking rosy.

However, even the Irish government became carried away in their involvement in the production of Mel Gibson's epic "Braveheart." If you look closely, you might notice that a lot of the supposedly wild and barbarous Scots in the battle scenes have altogether too neat hairstyles for the era in question. Why? Because the "Scots" were in fact Irish Army troops. Like I said at the beginning, it is clear that the Irish people are crazy ... about films.


Shukan ST: Oct. 26, 2001

(C) All rights reserved



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