Jimmy's Hall

Plot synopsis:
In 1932, after ten years in the United States, Jimmy Gralton returns to his native Ireland to help his mother run the family farm. A new government is in power in Ireland ten years after the end of the Civil War. To meet the needs of the young people of County Leitrim, Jimmy, in spite of his reluctance to cause upset to his old enemies (the Church and the local landowners), decides to reopen the "Hall", a young people's centre, free and open to all, where the local young people meet to dance, study or talk. Success comes quickly, but the growing influence of Jimmy and his radical ideas are not to the taste of everyone in the village.
The film centres around political tensions between the Catholic church, the state and the republican movement to which Jimmy through his pre-emigration history is connected. Jimmy's political alignment is central to the film, he suffers for being a free-thinker and committed to the liberation of ordinary people through education and also by having experience from America of jazz (the rhythms and passions of "darkest Africa" are warned against in one church sermon warning of the perils of the "Hall"). Jimmy is aligned to communism by the communist support and encourage participation in the study and dancing that evolve as key activities at the "Hall".
The power and hypocrisy of the church is demonised in the film by aligning it to the beating by her father of a free spirited young girl who laughs at the priest while she is named and shamed for attending a dance at the Hall in a church service. The pious religion of Jimmy's mother is also contrasted against her love of learning and ability to explore popular non-religious literature, which has aligned her family to Communism for liberation of working people. It is clear throughout the film that Jimmy and his mother are not aligned to any struggle above and beyond the necessities of their local community; however, this does bring them into involvement with attempting to prevent an eviction of a family who are displaced from their home.
This eviction and the assertive reinstatement of the family along with Jimmy's support and oratory to those gathered at the reinstatement draw him to the attention of the Gardaí. This starts a chain of events which ends in Jimmy's expulsion from Ireland based on the flimsy premise that he holds a US passport and that political agitators have previously been expelled from the country on such grounds. The lack of a fair trial is emphatically explained in the film by a speech given by Jimmy's mother at a rally surrounding the expulsion.
The behaviour of the state's police is shown and explained to be occurring at a time when Stalin was in full control of the Soviet Union and it is obvious that the state and church are fearful of forces that threaten to destroy them. It is this tension between the ideals of Christianity and the fear of the church and its natural tendency to be reactionary that is the central issue that the film explores.

Tags: flashback

Review:
This movie opposes two different and opposed views of the world: that of Jimmy Gralton, who apart from wanting to open a dance hall, is also a left-wing idealist.
In fact the heart of the movie is the confrontation between Jimmy Gralton and Father Sheridan, which despite the depth of conflict, is fundamentally based on a grudging mutual respect.What, indeed, could be wrong with opening a dance hall and cultural center?
"Jimmy's Hall" sees him return, in some respects, to the territory he explored in "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" and it is one of his very best films.
Again we are back in Ireland but 10 years after the end of the Civil War. Old wounds haven't healed, (they still haven't healed completely to this day), and like "The Wind that Shakes the Barley" the divisions here are much more political than social and almost as violent.It deals with the very specific conflict between those who opposed the Treaty, those who supported it and the dominating Catholic Church when one, Jimmy Gralton, returns from 10 years exile in America and reopens a community hall that was the source of all his trouble in the first place, against the express wishes of 'Holy Mother Church' and those who backed it.As scripted by Paul Laverty it is, of course, a deeply political film but Loach is the most humanist of political film-makers; consequently it is also a deeply moving (and, at times, very funny) picture.
In this story based on facts and one man's intention to give culture, song and dance to his small, impoverished community, it defies belief that this travesty of injustice occurred.As usual, the Catholic Church, the overlords and the unjust legal system come together to destroy any chance a small community has of the vital birth-right of culture and harmony for those who need it most; an isolated county in Ireland.As one man steps up, after having been deported once already for the grand crime of opening a hall where people can learn such basic things as song, dance, art, literature and boxing, after his ten first ten year deportation, the local youth who have nothing to look forward to in life, convince him to do so again.This is a straightforward movie about a circumstance that defies belief, and yet it occurred.
Worth the watch for anyone who understands that oppression and fascism is wrong and that normal people deserve joy, community and to fight back when their world makes no sense on account of simply wanting to life a life..
This film reminds us of the other side of the story: greed and power are the feudal and capitalist side of the story.One flaw in the movie is that people assume the struggle between Jimmy and the priest is communism versus the church.
Based on a true story about an Irish country man who opened what was pretty much a community Center that allowed the folks of the village to educate themselves in arts and entertainment, but the Catholic church was not fond of people taking any sort of education out of God's hands and into the hands of his children.
As the movie opens, we are told it is "County Leitrim, Ireland, 1932", and we see Jimmy coming back to Ireland after 20 years in New York (presumably because of the Depression and related unemployment).
It's not long before Jimmy and his friends decide to renovate the Pears-Connelly Hall, so as to give young people and the community a place to gather for dancing, reading, drawing, singing, etc.
into the movie, but to tell you more would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.Couple of comments: this is the latest movie be legendary British director Ken Loach, now a crisp 79 years young (and similar to Woody Allen in his never-ceasing output).
Loach is well-known for using his films as social commentary, and "Jimmy's Hall" is no exception.
Alas, it was not to be, for several reasons: first, the movie is not very helpful to let us understand why certain factions take a particular position (we are never told what beef the landlords have with Jimmy and his friends) or why the issue of the land ownership matters initially, and then a bit later on it doesn't.
If this was a fictional story, I'd have walked out an hour into the movie, but since this movie is "inspired by the life and times of Jimmy Gralton" (as is announced at the beginning of the movie), I wanted to find out how it would all unfold.
Last but certainly not least, there is a very nice musical score to the movie, featuring both traditional Irish music and jazz from the 20s and 30s.I had seen the trailer for "Jimmy's Hall" a few times and was really looking forward to this.
In 1933, Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward, "Songs for Amy") became the only Irish citizen ever to have been deported from Ireland when he was exiled to America without a trial.
His crime seems to be that he was a Communist who incurred the ire of the Catholic Church and the landlords by daring to establish a dance hall where such sinful pleasures as community dances, singing lessons, poetry readings, boxing lessons, and political debates took place.
Written by Paul Laverty ("The Wind That Shakes the Barley") from a play by Donal O'Kelly, Ken Loach's ("The Angel's Share") Jimmy's Hall directs our attention to a not very well known incident in Irish history that followed the Civil War of 1922-23, a war waged between two groups of Irish republicans over the Anglo-Irish Treaty.Partially filmed in the village of Drumsna, a village only a few kilometers from Gralton's birthplace in Effrinagh, the film begins in 1932 with Jimmy's return to County Leitrim after having lived in New York for ten years.
After showing historical footage of New York during the 1930s, particularly its poverty and unemployment during the great depression, we learn that Jimmy's brother has recently died and he is coming home to support his mother (Aileen Henry) in running the family farm.
When he responds "Same as ever" to her question about how he is, she tells him that "Nobody's the same after 10 years away." Now named after Patrick Pearse and James Connolly, two martyrs of the 1916 Easter uprising against British rule,Jimmy restores the boarded-up community hall that had been closed by the Catholic Church ten years earlier, stocking it with a wind-up Victrola and jazz records he brought from New York.
Fearful of stoking community activism, Father Sheridan (Jim Norton, "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close") stirs up his congregation by playing the Communist card and by warning his flock about the debasement of the country's morals."What is this obsession with pleasure?!" he demands, and asks "Is it Christ, or is it Gralton?" Railing against "the Los Angelization of our culture," the fearful pastor says that the hall has become a place where "the sins of jazz music and the rhythms from darkest Africa with pelvic thrusts may poison the minds," and reads aloud the names of those who went to the hall the previous night.
O'Byrne, "Queen and Country") is shown whipping his daughter because hers was one of the names read aloud, shots are fired into the hall during a dance, and the hall is set on fire and burned to the ground on Christmas Eve, 1932.The best scenes in the film are Gralton's one-on-one conversations with Father Sheridan in which he reflects on the father's outward display of hatred towards those who are working towards the common good, defying Christ's message to love thy neighbor.
Though his hint of transformation is aided by a young priest, Father Seamus (Andrew Scott), it is too little and too late to make a difference to Jimmy who is arrested and, deported to America where he will live out the rest of his life.Jimmy's Hall, like all of Loach's work, has its heart in the right place.
The movie Jimmy's hall is a man's fight against the authority, a man's fight to freedom.
In the midst of hardship in Jimmy's hall, the poor celebrated their true culture, their music, poetry, and dance.
Parents may disapprove of the kind of dancing (or what it may lead to), religious leaders may feel that the kind of dancing these young people do is immoral, or the authorities may see modern, non-traditional dancing as a form of rebellion and a sign of more rebellion to come.The short list of these rebel dance films range from very popular to very obscure, but they should be recognized and appreciated by dedicated movie fans, regardless of the individual's own level of proclivity to move to the music.
2015's addition to rebel dance films is the British-Irish movie "Jimmy's Hall" (PG-13, 1:49).This one is also based on a true story, but is about a lot more than dancing which some people and institutions find objectionable.
Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward) returns to his rural Irish home after ten years of living in the United States.
All of this brings him back into contact with a lost love (Simone Kirby) and back into conflict with Father Sheridan (Jim Norton), a powerful local priest who uses the pulpit to criticize the hall for its modern music and dancing – and the socialist ideas discussed in the hall.
Most of the community supports Jimmy, and a younger priest (Andrew Scott) increasingly speaks out against Father Sheridan's handling of the situation, but strong forces are gathering to oppose Jimmy and his hall.Then, the movie's plot takes a sharp turn – a sharp LEFT turn.
And quiet a story."Jimmy's Hall" depicts an interesting and little-known episode in Irish history, but isn't very compelling.
People with no prior knowledge of the problems of this place at this time will have trouble relating to Jimmy's story, and the movie lacks the narrative power to overcome that obstacle.
Director Ken Loach's tribute to Jimmy Gralton a Leitrim (Ireland) Socialist and his attempt to build a dance/meeting hall..
Seventy-nine year old British director Ken Loach has been dealing with social issues in film since the early 1960's and JIMMY'S HALL is no exception, based on a 10 year period in the life of Jimmy Gralton, a Leitrim (County in Ireland) Socialist - the only Irishman ever deported from Ireland in 1933.
The clash between the Catholic Church, intermixed with local politicians and what they considered Stalinist/Communist ideas brewing in a small village's Dance/Meeting Hall - built for the local community of farmers and laborers - teaching art, poetry, song, boxing classes, highlighting music and dance performances; a space to openly speak about landowner/working conditions.I am a sucker for a good-looking Irishman, and Barry Ward is just that; he plays Jimmy who is expressive, passionate and a stirring advocate for basic individual freedoms.
We meet him in 1932, after a forced 10 year exile in NYC, returning home to work on the family's small plot of land at a "hopeful" time, a new government has come into power.
Life in 1932 is and is not the same - personal relationships have changed - former love interest Oonagh who fought at his side in earlier days, having not heard from him for a long time after Gralton was forced to flee Ireland in 1921, married a "solid" man from the hamlet and bore 2 children.
Despite the years gone by, their deep connection has never come untethered and the tenderness between these two intense fighters for human rights is filmed in a lovely scene where they slowly move together, swaying under the pale light of unrealized dreams; fulfillment impossible.JIMMY'S HALL is a movie about the pervasive paranoia and corruption of Ireland's Government/Church partnership in maintaining "moral order" in a world that is absorbing new ideologies; where principles and tenets cannot be contained in ancestral and inbred receptacles.
There were rumours that Jimmy's Hall would be the final film from Ken Loach, the angry old man and true socialist of British cinema.
Working with his regular collaborator Paul Laverty, Loach brings us the story of Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward), a young Irish man who returned home from America in 1932 following the economic collapse and the Great Depression.
Gralton rebuilt the local community hall, which became the hub of social activity for the local farmers, who would dance and celebrate on a Saturday night and then go to Mass on Sunday morning.
By the end, Jimmy's Hall becomes a howl of outrage at a blatant miscarriage of justice, the abuse of power by both the church and state, and the continued oppression of the downtrodden and working classes.
There is plenty of great Irish music here, but the film also offers a look at the cultural and political landscape of Ireland in the early 1930s.
Here, with a sharp screenplay from Paul Laverty, who often collaborates with Loach, the director presents a most powerful drama, inspired by the life of Jimmy Gralton.Set mostly during the worldwide Great Depression, Gralton is returning home to his native Ireland, after 10 years of self-imposed exile.
Amid this turmoil, Gralton, ably portrayed by Barry Ward, wants to work his family farm in peace, in County Leitrim.However, he's approached by a group of local youths who ask him to revitalize and re-open the hall he owns, which has been shut for years and is completely dilapidated.
However, it becomes the bane of the powerful local Catholic Church, led by Father Sheridan (Jim Norton), who feels it's a threat to his authority, and the playing of such music as jazz (imported from America) is disgraceful.
Father Sheridan begins to go to any lengths to disparage all the locals who go there, and brands Gralton and his friends as Communists and subversives.At the same time, powerful and rich land owners are trying to squeeze out many local farmers, by foreclosing on them without due process.
In this particular case, the oppressive authority is the catholic church in Ireland, and the people fighting for freedom are the ordinary farmers and citizens, building their own community hall where they can dance, sing, play music and organize other events.
'Jimmy's Hall' is a film without sharp edges, a one-dimensional tale of good and bad.
The good guy is Jimmy, who returns to the Irish countryside after ten years in New York.
The locals ask him to rebuild the old community hall, but when it is finished he has to confront the bad guy: the local priest, who considers the hall to be a threat to the power base of the catholic church.
'Jimmy's Hall' is beautifully filmed, and brings an unsavoury aspect of pre-war Ireland to attention.
And to dance, to sing, as free human beings." James Gralton (Barry Ward) Jimmy's Hall depicts an Irish dance hall, Pearse-Connolly Hall, made by the people as a Depression-era testimony to their will to be free human beings.
In Jimmy's Hall, the people have dirt on their hands and worn clothes on their backs, but they have an indomitable spirit that exists always despite major oppression from the likes of England and the Catholic Church.
In any case, those of us on the low side of the 99% can identify.In this film, the rebellion is aimed squarely on the Catholic Church, embodied in the local pastor antagonist, Father Sheridan (Jim Norton), who mistakenly labels Gralton and his followers "communists," although they want only freedom and dance for everyone.
For the Irish, a people deeply imbued in culture and specifically music and poetry, the film draws us to their charisma and grit, a beautiful evocation of spirit.The love between Jimmy and erstwhile sweetheart Oonagh (Simone Kirby) is as good as you'll get in any film, especially where dance plays such an erotic and symbolic part.
This pro- German nazi ideology was quite common and was of course founding itself on a strict fundamentalist approach of the Catholic religion as the compulsory unique unifying element of the whole of Ireland.The film tells the story of a young man, James Gralton, when he comes back from the USA and New York in the 1930s after having been forced to expatriate himself in the 20s by the same people as those hostile to him when he comes back: the catholic church, the landowners, the politicians and all those who have a little bit of authority or power.
His crime was in the 1920s to have constructed a community hall where people taught poetry, painting and drawing, music, dancing, etc, freely and where he had balls every week on Saturday nights.
When he comes back ten years later, the young people ask him to reopen the Hall, and he does.
In other words he is denied his native Irish nationality.When we watch that film and try to think about the period it depicts, the poverty and the exploitation it paints and the suffering it represents for simple, poor, ordinary working people, we feel the nostalgia about this period where courage existed and where the communist ideology was bringing some hope to the poorest among "us." But the nostalgia is not meaning "That was a good time and it is a shame we have lost it!" The nostalgia is progressive: "Thanks God we have gone beyond that and left it behind: today we can enjoy our life without the constant control of the catholic church, without the dictatorship of landowners and politicians.
Director Ken Loach's newer "Jimmy's Hall" is cozy look back at the life and times of James Gralton, an Irish Communist living in the first half of the 20th Century.
So they open a dancing hall and the church opposes it, than the owner gets deported...
(or whatever reason, but this reminds me of the Chumbawamba song: Love me, I'm a liberal!)Spoiler: "we will keep on dancing Jimmy!" "Yeah, I'll send you money to throw a party..." Well it IS retiring time for Mister Loach.