INTO THE WEST
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1993 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Gabriel Byrne, Ruaidhri Conroy, Ciaran Fitzgerald,
Ellen Barkin.
Screenplay: Jim Sheridan.
Director: Mike Newell.
Miramax is marketing INTO THE WEST as a "family film," and while it's admirable to do so, I'm not sure it's the best idea. On the one hand, the deliberate pace appeared to lose the children in the audience when I saw the film. On the other, adults without children tend to stay away from "family films," and that would be a shame. INTO THE WEST is a charming, wise and gentle film that shows enough confidence to build slowly to a satisfying climax.
INTO THE WEST is the story of two Irish youngsters, twelve-year-old Tito Reilley (Ruaidhri Conroy) and his eight-year-old brother Ossie (Ciaran Fitzgerald). Raised among the nomadic Travellers, the boys are brought to Dublin by their widowed Papa (Gabriel Byrne), a hard drinker dealing with his wife's death by removing himself from his past. On the day they arrive in Dublin, there is another new arrival: a fantastic white stallion called Tir na nOg (Gaelic for "land of eternal youth") who attaches himself to Ossie. When authorities discover the horse in the Reilley's flat, they remove it and sell it off to a nasty horse breeder (John Kavanagh) who turns Tir na nOg into a champion show jumper. The two boys, however, have other ideas, and decide to free the horse, becoming fugitives in the process.
I spent the first half hour or so of INTO THE WEST a bit edgy and uninvolved, but it slowly began to occur to me that there might be an intentional reason. The scenes set in Dublin are dark and claustrophobic, but as the action spreads into the Irish countryside the film takes on a lyrical majesty. INTO THE WEST juxtaposes the mundane modernism represented by the city with the mythical wonder of the Old Ireland, shown as both the boys and Papa travel into the untamed West. It's a theme similar to the one director Mike Newell explored in his last film, 1992's ENCHANTED APRIL: the lifting of spirit caused by removing oneself from the city. While INTO THE WEST is not quite as successful overall, there is still a quiet grace to the visual narrative, thanks to cinematographer Tom Sigel's beautiful photography of hills and coastlines.
The performances are not quite as engaging as the look of the film. Gabriel Byrne, as the dour and laconic Papa, doesn't carry off his emotional scenes particularly well. David Kelley is crusty but basically cliche as the boys Old World grandfather, and Ellen Barkin, Byrne's real-life wife, has a bland role as a Traveller who helps Papa search for the boys. Fortunately, the two young newcomers who carry the film are better. Ruaidhri Conroy is sharp and good-natured as the protective older brother, if at times a bit affected. Ciaran Fitzgerald, however, is a scene-stealing charmer with great comic sensibility. The two are just right as brothers, and their scenes together are light and well-directed.
If Jim Sheridan's script is a bit thin, it's because the story is secondary to the feel of the film. The villainous horse breeder and his police-officer henchman are perfunctory characters; the story might have been done just as well without them. I also thought the portrayal of the Travellers was underdeveloped, but I'll admit that's because I've studied Celtic folklore and wanted to see more. Still, I never really minded the lack of depth because the mystical tone seemed right on.
I noted earlier that INTO THE WEST was less successful as afilm for children, and that assessment comes simply from listening. If you've ever seen a movie with an audience comprised largely of children, you know that you get a minute-by-minute account of what they think about it. One girl said to her mother, "I don't know what he's saying;" it seems the Irish accents were a problem. An older boy said simply, "Nothing's happening." While hardly a scientific test, these and other comment seemed to suggest that young ones without long attention spans might be less than enthralled.
INTO THE WEST may be, as my young audience-mate noted, a film where "nothing's happening." It's not a rollicking adventure, or a HOME ALONE-style comedy. However, for anyone with a taste for rich atmosphere spiced with a touch of magic might be pleasantly surprised.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 magic stallions: 7.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews