Running time: 89 minutes
Starring: Winnie Maughan, Michale Collins
Rating 5 out of 10
Photographer-turned-film maker Perry Ogden tries to follow in the footsteps of some of the great documentarists with his new film Pavee Lackeen, an in-your-face look at life among Ireland's travelling community. It's certainly not the normal multiplex fare and is likely to appeal to a select audience who may find it alternately depressing, exhilarating or informative.
The film takes the story of Winnie, a young girl who lives in a caravan with her mother and assorted family members. Their trailer is at the side of the road on a grim industrial estate, and is visited occasionally by various authorities trying to help or hinder the inhabitants. Winnie's life is shown in all its mundanity: she has dreams common to any ten-year-old girl, but her living conditions are far from the norm, with water coming from a tap in the street, trouble at school, and a mother who is borderline alcoholic.
Ogden chose real travelers for his project (just as he did for his previous book of photos on the subject called Pony Kids), and Winnie is effectively played by Winnie Maughan. Clearly inspired by some of the great documentaries (notably Bunuel's classic Los Olvidados), Ogden sets about to achieve a form of realism, and the result is reminiscent of the grim and low-key approach taken by Belgium's Dardenne brothers, who are renowned for tackling difficult but very real subject matters. Consequently, Pavee Lackeen becomes not so much a story but a series of events in the girl's life: watching her mother's wedding video, going to the shops, fighting at school and so on. She belongs to a marginalized section of society that people normally drive past, and Ogden does well to convey this.
Problems emerge, however, when discussing the moral tone of the film, which is at best confused. Are the travellers portrayed victims who need help or are they simply perpetuating their own misery? Certainly from the number of policemen, housing officers and social workers that visit Winnie's family it is evident that the state and taxpayer is funding an attempt to improve their lives but the travellers' reluctance to compromise or even look at any of the houses they are offered makes it a Catch-22 situation. As a filmmaker, Ogden never really addresses this key issue head-on and it's to the detriment of the film. The longer it goes on, the more you begin to think that the director has fallen for his subject and the milieu so much that he can no longer clarify the issues and present a reasonable case.
Paul Hurley
The film takes the story of Winnie, a young girl who lives in a caravan with her mother and assorted family members. Their trailer is at the side of the road on a grim industrial estate, and is visited occasionally by various authorities trying to help or hinder the inhabitants. Winnie's life is shown in all its mundanity: she has dreams common to any ten-year-old girl, but her living conditions are far from the norm, with water coming from a tap in the street, trouble at school, and a mother who is borderline alcoholic.
Ogden chose real travelers for his project (just as he did for his previous book of photos on the subject called Pony Kids), and Winnie is effectively played by Winnie Maughan. Clearly inspired by some of the great documentaries (notably Bunuel's classic Los Olvidados), Ogden sets about to achieve a form of realism, and the result is reminiscent of the grim and low-key approach taken by Belgium's Dardenne brothers, who are renowned for tackling difficult but very real subject matters. Consequently, Pavee Lackeen becomes not so much a story but a series of events in the girl's life: watching her mother's wedding video, going to the shops, fighting at school and so on. She belongs to a marginalized section of society that people normally drive past, and Ogden does well to convey this.
Problems emerge, however, when discussing the moral tone of the film, which is at best confused. Are the travellers portrayed victims who need help or are they simply perpetuating their own misery? Certainly from the number of policemen, housing officers and social workers that visit Winnie's family it is evident that the state and taxpayer is funding an attempt to improve their lives but the travellers' reluctance to compromise or even look at any of the houses they are offered makes it a Catch-22 situation. As a filmmaker, Ogden never really addresses this key issue head-on and it's to the detriment of the film. The longer it goes on, the more you begin to think that the director has fallen for his subject and the milieu so much that he can no longer clarify the issues and present a reasonable case.
Paul Hurley
