The Boxer (1997)
The Movie: Dublin-born director Jim Sheridan teams up with Daniel Day-Lewis for the third time with this boxing drama. Day-Lewis plays Danny Flynn, a boxer whos just been released from prison and is determined to get his life back on track. When he discovers explosives in the gymnasium hes setting up, he finds himself up against a callous IRA lieutenant.
Vision Of Ireland: A political minefield.
Ryans Daughter (1970)
The Movie: Set in 1916, this loose adap of Gustave Flaubert's novel Madame Bovary failed to impress the critics at the time, but went on to win two Academy Awards and is now considered an overlooked masterpiece. The plot follows the affair between a married Irish woman and a British officer whos serving during the First World War.
Vision Of Ireland: Bursting with ravishing, oceanic vistas.
The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
The Movie: Award-winning drama about fallen teenage girls who are sent by their families to Magdalene Asylums (or Laundries), where they live in homes maintained by the Roman Catholic church. The Vatican banned the film. We wonder why.
Vision Of Ireland: Devout and with bullet-proof morals.
Matchmaker (1997)
The Movie: Janeane Garofalo stars as Marcy, the American assistant to a Senator. She's sent off to Ireland in order to find her boss distant relatives in a bid to secure the Irish-American vote in the upcoming election. While there, Marcy discovers that the town of Ballinagra are hosting their annual matchmaking festival and finds herself the object of romantic advances. Twee but endearing.
Vision Of Ireland: Overflowing with love. Or something.
The Snapper (1993)
The Movie: Directed by Stephen Frears, this unofficial movie sequel to The Commitments follows the story of young Sharon Curley, who falls pregnant but wont reveal to her family who the father is. As they rally around her, they begin to suspect Sharons friends father is the one responsible for her pregnancy.
Vision Of Ireland: Filled with as much domestic disturbance as any country.
Waking Ned (1998)
The Movie: Comedy filmed on the Isle of Man following a rabble of money-grabbing Irish townspeople who all attempt to get their hands on the lottery winnings of their neighbour, who dies from shock after bagging the jackpot. Director Kirk Jones received a BAFTA nomination for Most Promising Newcomer. He went on to make Nanny McPhee.
Vision Of Ireland: Surprisingly similar to the Isle of Man.
Veronica Guerin (2003)
The Movie: Taut biographical drama from Joel Schumacher. Cate Blanchett stars as the titular journalist, whose investigation into Dublin drug trade resulted in her murder in 1996. Colin Farrell makes a cameo appearance as a tattooed man Guerin discusses football with.
Vision Of Ireland: A druggy underworld.
Intermission (2003)
The Movie: Kelly Macdonald, Colin Farrell and Cillian Murphy crop up in this dramatic crime comedy, which follows the intersecting lives of down-and-out Dublin inhabitants. Shot on the streets of Dublin, it comes from Is Anybody There? director John Crowley.
Vision Of Ireland: Sprawling and complex.
The General (1998)
The Movie: Excalibur and Deliverance director John Boorman helms this tale of Dublin crime boss Martin Cahill, who defied the IRA and UVF by pulling off some spectacular heists during the 80s. Brendan Gleeson excels as Cahill, while Jon Voight plays the inspector attempting to bring him down.
Vision Of Ireland: A hive of criminal activity.
Bloody Sunday (2002)
The Movie: TV film centred around the 1972 Bloody Sunday shootings in Derry. James Nesbitt plays Ivan Cooper, a Northern Ireland MP who helped organise the Civil Rights march that saw 14 people die after British Army paratroopers opened fire. Paul Greengrass directed it two years before he helmed his first Bourne movie, The Bourne Supremacy in 2004.
Vision Of Ireland: Scene of shocking acts of violence.
