Irish Film Institute -International Film Directory – Film Listing

Saoirse?

    • Director

      George Morrison

    • Credits

      Producer: George Morrison

  • Category

    Documentary
    Irish Language
    Classic

George Morrison’s sequel to Mise Éire, his acclaimed account of Irish history focussing on the lead up to the 1916 Rising and the the War of Independence, Saoirse? deals with the events of that war and its aftermath. The film adopts a more subdued tone than its predecessor, a tone befitting the bloodshed of this period. What the film does share with Mise Éire, however, is its extensive use of archive footage, much of it salvaged from obscurity and neglect by Morrison to provide a moving image record of Irish society during one of its most turbulent and famous periods. Comparatively unknown in the Irish film canon, particularly when compared to its older sibling, Saoirse?’s relative obscurity is usually ascribed to its brave confrontation of the Civil War split. It is this courage that today makes the film essential viewing for any with an interest in Ireland’s past.

90 minutes, Ireland, 1959, B&W


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