JIMMY’S HALL – The Review

By Cate Marquis

Director Ken Loach delivers a nice, enjoyable little slice of Irish history in JIMMY’S HALL, a tale about one-time rural firebrand who returns to his native County Leitrim, Ireland, a decade after his leadership in the upheaval of the 1921 Irish Troubles forced him to flee. Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward) only intends to care for his aging widowed mother Alice (Aileen Henry) and live a quiet life, yet the community almost immediately begins urging him to re-open the now-empty community center, Pearse-Connolly Hall. The elderly local priest, Father Sheridan (Jim Norton), is firming opposed to reopening the hall, fearing it will lead to a loss of Church control. He and the local authorities will do whatever is needed to prevent it.

This well-crafted, well-acted, fact-based film takes a light touch in dealing with the real historical events and social issues of the time. British socialist-realist director Ken Loach has explored Irish history before with the drama THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY but JIMMY’S HALL takes a different path, offering a likeable, uplifting tale with a populist hero and backed by some terrific Irish and early jazz music. The Great Depression hit the Irish countryside as hard as anywhere but Loach avoids a grim, serious tone. Instead, he reminds us that even in hard times, people still long to have fun and for a place to express themselves freely. Writer Paul Laverty did considerable research for his script, but aimed for the human story in the history and created some fictional characters and events to do so.

Jimmy finds much has changed in 1932 Ireland but other things have not. There is a new government but the collusion between the Catholic Church, wealthy landowners and government still control the lives of the poor rural folk and farmers of County Leitrim. When Jimmy suddenly fled for America in the ’20s, his true love Oonagh (Simone Kirby) decides to stay behind. Jimmy returns to find Oonagh married to a mutual friend, with whom she now has children. Pearse-Connolly Hall, the community center built with volunteer help on Jimmy’s land, where he and his left-leaning friends once offered classes in the Irish language, painting, boxing and used for an alternative to the British courts, as well as place for dances, now stands empty and abandoned.

Hearing he is back, friends come to urge him to re-open the hall, as do the young people who are forced to use rural roadways to dance away from the harsh, judging eyes of the parish priest. Jimmy resists at first, but eventually his natural leadership instincts re-emerge. He and his friends fix up and open the hall, despite threats and more from the Church and authorities. They restart the classes and begin holding dances, trying out hot new dance steps to the sounds of jazz and blues music, played by a band inspired records played on the gramophone Jimmy brought back from America.

While this well-researched film does not avoid the political side of the history, Loach keeps the focus on the human side of the story and on individual people’s desire for a bit of freedom and fun, rather than delving heavily into the politics of the day. Still, the politics set the framework for the story’s conflict. Representing the Church’s view, Father Sheridan wants to keep all education, dancing and community activities under his own watchful eye. He repeatedly rails against Jimmy, labeling him a Communist in an echo of McCarthyism, and warns of rebellion. Barry Ward’s Jimmy is an easy-going natural populist leader, surprisingly free of ego, who resists the limits the church and government would impose on him or his community. The local gentry and political leaders share his concerns and wish to keep tight control. But people’s wish to just have a little space of their own cannot be held back.

This conflict sets up a nice little battle of wills and wits, as Jimmy and friends cleverly circumvent the obstacles the priest and local officials toss their way. Although serious events take place, the film is packed with amusing little twists where members of the community outwit their adversaries. The film is also packed with well-drawn, believable characters who charm us.

The film’s music is a wonderful, irresistible mix of traditional Irish music and blues-tinged early jazz. One of the most appealing scenes is when Jimmy and Oonagh dance close together to a seductive blues-jazz number, a steamy scene expressing the thwarted passion between them and a bittersweet sense of the loss. Another finely drawn scene features Jimmy’s mother Alice, who plays on the assumptions of the inept police to outwit them when they come to arrest her son on trumped-up charges. Both scenes are highly entertaining while packing in the meaning behind them.

JIMMY’S HALL is a lighter film than Loach’s early Irish drama THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY but it is a pleasing and satisfying historical tale, with an appealing hero and some delightful music.

4 out of 5 stars

JIMMY’S HALL opens Friday, August 21, at the Plaza Frontenac Cinema.