El Burro Volador

One night last week I was surprised to see that myNetworkTV (channel 20 here in Collins) was advertising The Commitments as its “Saturday Night Movie”.  ‘Bekah and I immediately decided to tune in, as we both love The Commitments, but I was surprised because I’m pretty sure that this film is relatively unknown on our side of the Atlantic – I discovered it by accident, and ‘Bekah watched it with me.  It occurred to me that this might be one of those rare times when I had discovered a real treasure and should let everyone else know about it as well.

The Commitments is based on a novel by a superb Irish writer named Roddy Doyle, and is set in the poverty-stricken northside of Dublin, known as Barrytown.  Against this somewhat bleak working class backdrop, a group of young unemployed types form a soul band (The Commitments) with big dreams.  What follows is a charming tale with more funny moments than sad ones.  For people who think this sounds suspiciously “artistic”, I offer the additional enticement of a terrific soul soundtrack, complete with some dynamite performances by the band, which turns out to be quite good (and it is really the cast members performing).  If you’re one of those people who loves live music in small clubs you will recognize that the performance scenes do a terrific job of capturing that atmosphere.

As a final endorsement, I’ve discovered that this film, released in 1991, was voted “The Greatest Irish Film of All Time” in a 2005 survey sponsored by Jameson’s Irish Whiskey.  Just for fun, I thought I’d append the top ten finishers in the survey

1. The Commitments

2. My Left Foot

3. In the Name of the Father

4. The Quiet Man

5. The Snapper (sequel to The Commitments!)

6. Michael Collins (One of my personal favorites)

7. The Field

8. Intermission

9. Veronica Guerin

10. Inside I’m Dancing

I can personally vouch for both The Snapper and Michael Collins as being outstanding films, though the latter is pretty heavy fare, so be warned.