Rocky Road To Dublin (1967/Icarus Films DVD)
Picture:
C+ Sound: C+ Extras: B- Film: B
Some
films can hit such a profound chord that others cannot face them. When Peter Lennon gave us a look at the dark
side of Ireland in his documentary Rocky
Road To Dublin (1967), that it would be banned in his native country for
all the 43 years since despite some small showings and counting or that it
would be a priceless portrait of a country whose greatness has been suppressed
and ignored for far too long.
Not made
in the conventional way on purpose, the film exposes elitism that is hurting
the country, censorship people insist does not exist, hypocrisy from the
Catholic Church that turned out to be an uglier situation than anyone imagined
when a recent abuse scandal was one of their worst ever anywhere and a
complacency of the government that keeps the country an ugly protectorate of
England, you can see why the Irish Republican Army has been able to sustain its
existence and how a great country has been denied greatness for so long.
It is
interesting some of the things Lennon captures throughout the film, but as many
recent documentaries prove, people will say anything on camera and not think it
will have implications later. That
becomes metaphor for the film, which is as potent today as it was upon first
release, sadly exposing things in Ireland that need to change. Maybe this DVD release will help spur that
along.
The 1.33
X 1 black and white image can be soft in places, but the overall copy is in great
shape, clean and Video Black is pretty good for the format. The case brags that the great Director of
Photography Raoul Coutard lensed the film, but he actually shares this credit
with Georges Liron, who had been a camera operator with Coutard on many Godard
classics and Costa-Gavras’ Z (1969,
reviewed elsewhere on this site), which Coutard also lensed. I would love to see this on Blu-ray. The Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono is also cleaned up
and very good for its age. The only extra
is the new documentary The Making of Rocky Road To Dublin,
which should be seen after seeing the actual film.
- Nicholas Sheffo
