Big Boys Don’t Cry examines whether the quite profound changes that Irish society has undergone in a relatively short period of time has put an inordinate amount of strain on our young people as they struggle to adjust.It analyses a shanging Ireland which is affecting the way both young men and women live their lives but asks why are young men proving less adaptable to changes in their status than young women?Traditional notions of masculinity and how young men should behave are being challenged.Is this creating a vacuum which some men just can’t cope with?How emotionally equipped are they to deal with these changes?How do they relate to their peers?This film explores a range of theories which be affecting suicide rates and patterns from the significant changes in family life which have taken place over the last two decades in Ireland to the effect of the breakdown of religious or political belief systems on the psychological well-being of our young.

IRELAND,2001
52mins