ST PATRICK, THE IRISH LEGEND
Ireland, 1999, 92 minutes, Colour.
Patrick Bergen, Malcolm Mc Dowell, Alan Bates, Susannah York.
Directed by Robert Hughes.
St Patrick, the Irish Legend is a film made for American television for the Fox Family Channel. The production is Irish helped by Irish government money. The star, Patrick Bergen, is an Irishman who has had a career in Hollywood, often playing the heavies or villains (as in Patriot Games). The film was co-written, produced and directed by Robert Hughes. Hughes and his co-writer have drawn on the legends of St Patrick to enhance the basic historical facts. In the publicity, the film is referred to as dealing with: the man, the myth, the legend.
Unfortunately, some of the legendary aspects of Patrick fall foul of the rather economical special effects: the aura of light from which a voice emanates which calls Patrick to his vocation, leads him to the ship to escape, appears at his parents' dinner, a light in the wall with Irish people calling him to come to them. It comes again at the end, the voice affirming his work. There is also a short sequence when Patrick lands on Ireland and puts his staff in the ground and suddenly special effects snakes slither away into the water.
The mythical aspects of Patrick are probably better done: he continually looks like a wild Irishman with wild, unkempt hair and beard. We initially see him challenging a Druid human sacrifice, breaking the altar (also with lighting special effects). In his early life, however, he appears as a very soft-looking lad, from a wealthy family and who had never done a day's work in his life. (This look continues for the whole six years, even though he has had to work very hard in the fields.)
The film offers Patrick as writing his memoirs, interpreting his life, God's grace, his sense of mission, his return home and leaving his family, training in the abbey and his insistence to the kindly bishop that he be the Apostle of Ireland. It also shows his arrival, wanting to buy back his freedom, his early disciples, the physical and manual hard work that Patrick continued to do while building up the church.
The film also has a sensational villain in the form of Malcolm Mc Dowell as the British Bishop Quentin. He sneers and snarls and is forever critical of Patrick and his work, envious and jealous, using scriptures and church authority to vindicate his stances while he bullies the other bishops. On the whole, bishops do not appear well: Patrick's friend, Briain, betrays him to Quentin; the first missionary to Ireland is shown as a selfish, effete aristocrat and the other bishops as yes-men. However, Briain finally repents and brings the support of the Pope for Patrick and his work.
The film is a rather basic presentation of the life of the saint, produced on a small budget, using Irish locations and ruggedness to full effect, while the dialogue in the screenplay has quite a number of stilted artificial lines which detract from the overall effect, as well as some pious postures and stances which can be interpreted as 'Hollywood holy'.
1. A popular film about a popular saint, for the wide television audience? The Irish background, production values?
2. The English settings, the Irish settings? The contrast? England and Ireland in the 5th century? Towns and wealth, countryside and poverty? Society, the church? The background musical score and atmosphere?
3. The opening and the Druid ceremony, Patrick and his intervention? The contrast between the Druid traditions and Christianity? The later confrontations? Patrick and his staunch stances?
4. The framework of the film: the opening, the flashbacks, Patrick as a young man, at home, slavery, escape, ordination, return? The comparisons between the younger and older Patrick? The voice-over and the use of his confessions and the hymn, "The Breastplate"?
5. The personality of Patrick: his English background, part of the empire, his family, the experience of being a slave, the Irish oppression? Yet his desire to return, his determination in training, his determination against the bishops, betrayal by friends, confrontations in Ireland, getting converts, building up a church, literally working and building with the people? His achievement?
6. Patrick's family, his father and tax-collecting, his mother and society? The sequences in his home? Their grief at his enslavement? His return, the banquet, his decisions, their reactions? Patrick in his family setting?
7. The experience of slavery, the traders, his going to Ireland, his work, those in charge, brutality? His being despised? Yet his friends, the families, the young woman? His escaping from slavery? His impression of Ireland and wanting to return?
8. His vocation, the experience of the light and the voices (and the special effects for these)? The light and the vision at his parents' place? His going to the monastery, his training, discussions, spiritual direction? Ordination? His pleas to go to Ireland, the bishops, Bishop Quentin and his domination? Briain and his telling Bishop Quentin about Patrick's curiosity for the Druid religious experiences and his going, this being used against him?
9. The first bishop for Ireland, his lack of zeal, his wanting comfort, his dying? The contrast with Patrick, Patrick in Ireland, rousing the people, working with them, becoming friends, his clergy, the church of the people, social justice? Patrick's own asceticism, his prayer?
10. Bishop Quentin, his aristocratic tone, dominance, worldliness, greed, persecuting Patrick? Using Briain?
11. Briain, the memories of the young men going to watch the Druid ceremony and its effect on them? Briain and his repentance to Patrick? Going to Rome, getting the support of the Pope?
12. A simple overview of the life of Patrick and his mission?
