From History to Heritage Some Recent Developments in Irish Cinema

Abstract

The destruction of the past, or rather of the social mechanisms that link one's contemporary experience to that of earlier generations, is one of the most characteristic and eerie phenomena of the late twen? tieth century. Most young men and women at the century's end grow up in a sort of permanent present lacking any organic relation to the public past of the times they live in.1 In an interview in Film Ireland, David Kavanagh, Director of the European Script Fund, was asked how Irish scripts compared with their European counterparts. He replied that whilst the quality was high, 'It's still the case that we persistently get 1950s rural coming-of age stories ... you don't very often get urban dramas or projects writ? ten but not based in Ireland'.2 His complaint was echoed in the following issue of Film Ireland by the script developer at Merlin Films: 'The same themes crop up over and over again - nobody seems to be able to tackle contemporary themes. I get an awful lot of scripts deal? ing with Irish historical issues, and even a number of scripts at any one time with the same kinds of people or events in Irish history.'3 The purpose of this essay is to examine recent depictions of the 'nightmare' of Irish history on the screen and to discuss the emergence in the 1990s of what I have called an Irish Heritage Cinema. I will be attempting to set this in the context of various critical debates circulat? ing within the international and the national arena. Contemporary theories of postcolonialism and postmodernism, in particular, are rel? evant to historical narratives, although it is the latter which particu? larly informs the films I am concentrating on. The public debate surrounding the release of Michael Collins (Neil Jordan, 1996) highlights the difficulties inherent in recreating histori? cal events (as opposed to simply using the past as a fictional setting) on the screen; yet I would like to argue that this film too is over? whelmingly informed by nostalgia, in particular for a decisive, charis? matic hero figure. This does not mean that it is a Heritage Film but it does raise the question as to whether, in a revisionist era, classical forms (the Hollywood realist narrative) are any longer appropriate to an interpretation of history.

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