MIDDLETOWN

Ireland, 2006, 88 minutes, Colour.
Matthew Mac fadyen, Daniel Mays, Eva Birthistle, Gerard Mc Sorley.
Directed by Brian Kirk.

This is a sombre piece of work, a glimpse into an even more sombre world. This is a small country town in Northern Ireland in the 1950s, Middletown. It is atmospherically filmed in dark tones and colours.

Religion is the dominant theme and, while the love of God and the love of Christ are mentioned every so often, that is the last thing one associates with the kind of vengeful religion dramatised here. The denomination is called ‘The Church of God’. It is a far cry from the Catholic Church (though one might think of Trevor Howards’s irascible parish priest in Ryan’s Daughter) and it is a far cry from the Anglican Communion. One reviewer, facetiously remarked at the end of the screening, ‘Four stars, Ian Paisley’!

The Church of God is that kind of Reformed church which has no images in the church itself, gives prominence to the lectern with the scriptures opened on it, does not focus on an altar or a crucifix, a kind of extreme Cromwellian place of worship.

The film opens with the pastor singling out a young boy, Gabriel, as chosen by God to be set apart for a special mission. His local businessman father, a dominant presence in the village, agrees. Meanwhile, outside the church, Gabriel’s younger brother, Jim, and his friend taunt and fight with a boy on crutches. His father gives him a mighty blow on the face for such behaviour in front of the church. The scene and the mood are well and truly set.

15 years later. The pastor is retiring and his successor, coming from mission work in Africa, is Gabriel (Matthew Mac fadyen from In My Father’s Den and Pride and Prejudice). Meanwhile, Jim (David Mays from Vera Drake) is living with his pregnant partner, Caroline (Eva Birthistle from Ae Fond Kiss), is in debt, can’t pay the builders of his house while they live in a caravan, bets on the local pub cockfights despite Caroline’s disapproval and has to be a money collector for his still severe father. Caroline and her mother own the pub.

This is a rather ordinary village that could be anywhere in all of Ireland. However, the film makes it a segregated enclave: no police, no doctor, no fire brigade, no other churches, which diminishes the credibility of the setting. However, when Gabriel arrives, unsmiling and stern, he quickly brands it a new Sodom and Gommorah, verbally attacking the people, denouncing Caroline and her lack of faith, burning all the books in his house, wringing the necks of the fighting cocks and smashing the pub – all the while quoting the scriptures. He does mention the love of God but his behaviour shows he has had no experience of it. He is more convincing when he quotes a wrathful God.

Things go from bad to worse for Jim and his relationship with Caroline, with his ill father concerning the inheritance, leading to Gabriel erupting in mad and violent behaviour. Some of this is so extreme, along the lines of hell-and-brimfire preachers, that some non-believing audiences will be tempted to laugh in disbelief.

However, Middletown is a cautionary tale about literal, puritanical and vengeful religion.

1.The impact of the film? For Irish audiences? Northern Ireland? Universal audiences? Religious themes?

2.The sombre photography? The dark images of the town? The town environment, the streets, the buildings, the garage, the countryside? The church? The pub? The atmospheric score?

3.The title, the average Irish town? In the 1950s?

4.The town itself, the small group of people seen, a small enclave? The church, the pub, the garage? No indication of police, doctors, fire brigade, other churches? The effect of this narrow focus? The segregation from the rest of the town? Yet the illegal goings-on, especially in the importation of petrol?

5.The prologue: in the church, the boys outside, the boy on the crutches, Jim and his taunting him, the fight? His father slapping him severely? Inside the church, the focus on Gabriel? His being chosen by the priest and his father? His being set apart? The boy’s willingness to do this? His coming outside the church and looking at his brother Jim?

6.The transition to fifteen years afterwards, Jim, adult, his relationship with Caroline, her pregnancy, in the caravan, their way of life, building the house? His lacking money? The clashes with the builders and their eventually walking off? His stepping in mud, coming in laughing? In town? His going to church? Her not going, her going to work in the pub? The announcement by the priest that he was retiring, his forty years of service? The picture of the congregation? The contrast with everybody going to the pub, the setting up of the cockfight, Jim and his betting, the fight, his losing? Caroline’s disappointment?

7.Gabriel’s arrival, the background in Africa, his denunciation of the priest and his failing the village? His meeting his brother and father? Touching Caroline and her pregnancy? His later apology? Her not accepting it? Her suspicions of him? His going into the church, feeling at home? His burning all the books? His quoting of the Scriptures? Going to the church and looking at the text? His denunciation of the pub? His going to the cockfight and wringing the neck of the cock? Everybody in shock? His sermons and his criticisms? His likening the town to Sodom and Gomorrah? His alienation of Jim? His appeals to his being his brother but yet his treatment of him, denunciations of Caroline? The arguments about the baptism and Caroline’s refusal? His relationship with his father? His father and his illness, wanting to secure a place in Heaven? Telling Jim that he had bequeathed everything to Gabriel?

8.Jim, growing desperation, alienated from his friends, letting the builders go? Going to his father and hearing the news? His disagreement with Caroline, his being ousted, banging on the door?

9.The birth of the child, his joy? Holding the baby? Caroline and her joy, her mother? The father coming, wanting to see his granddaughter? The effect on him, changing his mind about the will?

10.Gabriel, his growing desperation, his going in and taking the baby? The fight with Jim? His going to his father, his religious mania, smothering his father? His going out, the garage and the blaze? People gathering? The confrontation with Jim – and the final scenes of the fire and Gabriel left with his badness?

11.The attitude of the film-makers towards religion? The history of the churches in Ireland? The more literal and fundamentalist churches? Mainstream churches? The hold of the pastor over the people in the parish? The film showing the various people, listening to the comments of Gabriel in the church, their criticisms of family, the confrontations with Caroline from the women in the street? The film’s criticism of loveless religion, the quotations from the Scriptures? The talk of the love of God – but stronger talk about the wrath of God?