Review // Jimmy’s Hall

Despite being in competition for the Palme D’or at the Cannes film festival in 2014 Jimmy’s Hall, the latest from director Ken Loach (The Wind That Shakes The Barley, Kes), has had a long road to Canadian theatres. While many of the films it competed against in France have gone on to Oscar nominations (Mr. Turner, Foxcatcher, Wild Tales), Césars (Timbuktu, Clouds of Sils Maria), and Canadian Screen Awards (Mommy, Maps to the Stars), poor old Jimmy’s Hall has waited patiently for its moment in the sun. A simple yet confidently told story of a man’s efforts to stand up for his community against the authoritative powers of 1930s Ireland, Jimmy’s Hall is like a quiet country drive compared to the bustling downtown traffic of the summer blockbuster season.

The film follows Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward) as he returns to his native Ireland after a decade of exile in America. Pressured out of the country by the Catholic church after providing dancing lessons and other liberal pursuits at his community-built dance hall, Jimmy returns to find that the flame of independence he ignited in his fellow townsfolk still burns brightly. Though he professes a desire to retire to the simple life of helping his elderly mother on her farm, Jimmy is soon pulled back into his old community-organizing ways, largely by a younger generation who look up to him as a near-legendary figure.

While Jimmy’s horizons may have expanded in his ten years abroad, he soon finds that Ireland has undergone no such transformation. The same old powers still rule on the Emerald Isle and the activities at the hall soon catch the eye of Father Sheridan (Jim Norton), a spiteful old priest with connections in high places determined to keep the education of the country’s disenfranchised population under control of the church. Despite the reasoned words of his associate Father Seamus (Sherlock‘s Andrew Scott), Sheridan has soon launched a personal vendetta against the hall, naming it’s attendees in front of his congregation and labeling Jimmy a communist (the convenient catch-all for ne’er-do-wells). Soon it’s déjà vu all over again as the Irish state and republican movement join the fray, and a simple idea like starting a community centre suddenly stands for much more. Jimmy even slips back into his romance with the world weary Oonagh (Simone Kirby) which was abruptly ended ten-years earlier; however like his hall, the whole thing seems doomed from the start.

Though it might sound gloomy Jimmy’s Hall is actually an uplifting story about the perseverance of hope and community, one that rings true no matter what the country or time period. The onscreen reverence for Jimmy feels more than warranted thanks to a magnetic performance from Barry Ward who is as scruffy and mischievous as a sheepdog (we hope to see more of him on the big screen) and who delivers screenwriter Paul Laverty’s diatribes with an understated passion. Jimmy’s natural charm is more than matched by Jim Norton’s pitiable Father Sheridan, who is trapped by his narrow view of the world, and hopelessly charmless compared to the dashing Jimmy. The ensemble cast do an excellent job and a beautiful score by George Fenton makes Loach’s world feel seamless and authentic.

This world is also, of course, brazenly socialist. The bad guys are rich, power-hungry capitalists, and the good guys are scruffy, working-class underdogs. But what else is to be expected from the notoriously political Loach? At it’s core Jimmy’s Hall is a worthy period piece and an uplifting human story. With a small scale and a focus on realism (if you’re looking for explosions or gun fights look elsewhere), the film creates a captivating – and sometimes infuriating – portrait of a country divided between the old world and the new. It also makes a point, and that’s refreshing in the midst of the summer’s blockbuster escapism.

Reviewed by Evan Arppe.