Wednesday 28th February

Today in our tutorial we looked at documentaries in Ireland. We looked at the 1946 government sponsored historical documentary “A Nation Once Again”. This documentary was about the 19th century nationalist Thomas Davis. £3,000 was invested to make this documentary which was largest amount of money to ever be put into a documentary. It was important to have documentaries in Ireland as many Irish people were not happy about the way they were represented on screen. We then watched a clip of the documentary “Mise Eire”. This film was produced by Gael Linn and directed by George Morrison in 1959. It contains archive footage and deals with the period of 1896-1918 in Irish history. The narration gives this film a certain type of feeling along with the music of a quite bleak time in Irish history. However despite its commercial success this documentary was also criticised as it focused on the past.
We also looked at the beginning of the “Rocky Road to Dublin”. This film was directed by Peter Lennon in 1968. It looks at the state of the church in Ireland. The director filmed in the style of the French New wave. Although the film was said to be a masterpiece by Cahiers Du Cinema, it was criticised by the Christian Brothers in Ireland. The rocky Road to Dublins style inspired Alan Gilsenan who we will be looking at in the next lecture class.

Tuesday 27th February

Today in class we looked at the documentary series that is shown on RTE called the Hospice. This documentary was made in four parts and focused on people who were receiving medical care in a hospice. We looked in particular at one episode where a woman was terminally ill and had breast cancer. She is one of the many patients who receive care from the hospice. This documentary included interviews with the woman and also at times was a silent observer this can be seen when the camera films her funeral. In class we discussed the idea of whether the documentary maker should have filmed the funeral. Some people said that he was given permission by the family to do so and he had none this woman before her death so why should we not he be allowed to document her death. I personally think the funeral should not have been filmed and I felt as a viewer that he was intruding on a very solemn occasion. I think he could have ended the documentary by maybe showing her burial bench as I think it would be more respectful. This concluded our class.