Pavee Lackeen on DVD (2005)

A customer from Wales , 20/02/2006

A documentary syle look at the Irish Traveller community where the characters are more or less played by themselves. There is not an awful lot in the way of plot, but the film conveys a real sense of a family under pressure and excluded from the Irish economic miracle. This is important cinema. The plight of Irish Travellers is rarely looked at. It little known outside Ireland and, perhaps, in need of more attention in Ireland.

  9 out of 10 people found this review helpful

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Harriet Barbir from London [Highly rated reviewer] , 14/04/2007

This film is a slice of life and concentrates on young Winnie (one of a family of 'travelling people') who lives on the periphery of, a contrasting, thriving Dublin.

The film opens with Winnie's fortune being told - all will be grand if she can stay in school. That proves difficult for Winnie as she is soon excluded from school for being in yet another fight, having been taunted about her absent father.

In the coming weeks, as she goes about her daily life, there are glimpses into the hardship of that life, and the family's aspirations for a better one.

Winnie is endearing, and as she frequents the local shops, intrigued by the vast array of products, conversing with the shopkeepers, one roots for her, and hopes for her future, yet there's a pervading sense that the odds are stacked against Winnie and that fate (and bureaucracy) will hold that better life (or upward mobility) forever beyond grasp.

  6 out of 6 people found this review helpful

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avs2 from Lothian , 08/07/2006

Good in its own right. There is no particular beginning, middle and end to this film. Thats because its a true to life film of travelling folk. It gives you an insight into the life that these type of people face and the prejudice that surrounds them. I suggest that you will need to use the subtitles function on this film to understand the dialect. Overall good and very impressed with the non actors and the small budget that this film was made on. Beats your hollywood hype anyday!

  5 out of 6 people found this review helpful

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maxwurr from Middlesex [Highly rated reviewer] , 21/01/2007

A sobering and graphic illustration of the marginalisation of the Irish travelling community in modern Ireland (although the story will ring true throughout Europe). For all its grey misery, however, the central character retains a certain joie de vivre that still hints at the mythical free-spirited gypsy of times long gone. Hyper-real and moving in an understated sort of way.

  3 out of 3 people found this review helpful

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bomberberdier from Blackpool [Highly rated reviewer] , 01/07/2008

I still dont know whether I liked this film or not.Most of the time I had to put the subtitles on to understand the diolog.And I lived in Ireland for a number of years.But great acting from the youngsters.

  2 out of 2 people found this review helpful

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A customer from Barnsley , 03/03/2008

I was intrigued to view some Irish cinema as this was the first film I had come across. I wasnt sure what to expect but imagined a low budget, working class quirky piece of cinema like so many under reviewed Scottish films.

Well... I was ashamed to have Irish heritage! As a film graduate I found this film more boring and lacking in imagination than the films made by my piers in college who flunked their A Levels. Painful to finish and I have never walked out of a cinema.

  1 out of 1 person found this review helpful

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