The Mighty Celt

Low budget indeed, but worked with intelligence, feeling and genuine talent. A sincere and clean view towards the relationship between dogs and humans.

From the professional point of view, it's also entirely commendable. Well chosen and managed actors - the boy was surprisingly natural and expressive, and the trainer composed a credible and complex portrait. The director had the skill to build up very realistic tensions between the two leading characters, dramatically working up his way to the tragic peak of the dog's slaying - a scene that literally tears one's heart, and not by using cheap tricks!

Not only the movie touches the deep soul of all the people who love, understand and respect animals, but is also depicts a honorable piece of good cinematic work. Congratulations - and thanks! :)

Donal (Tyrone McKenna, outstanding) loves greyhound dogs and works for a questionable owner/trainer "Good" Joe (Ken Stott). Joe has some fast dogs for the track, no doubt, but he is horrible to the dogs which do not win. As Donal is the son of a single mother, Kate (Gillian Anderson), in their Northern Ireland home, he needs the work and truly tries to check Joe's dark impulses. Meanwhile, O (Robert Carlyle) , a former IRA member who is released from prison, comes back to the same town to stir up uneasiness for Kate. for they have a past. In truth, O seems a reformed man who gets a respectable job and turns his very damaged apartment into a nice abode. Soon, Donal falls for a dog he names the Mighty Celt, who loses his first race badly. Pleading with Joe not to "get rid of him", he says he will train Celt personally and asks that if MC wins his next three races, Joe will give the dog to Donal. Amazingly, Joe agrees and indeed the dog wins his next two races. But, Joe has a black heart and sees a money winner he will have a hard time letting go. What will happen? This film, first, has great stars in Anderson, Carlyle, Stott and especially young McKenna. What a joy to watch them. Also fabulous is the put-your-eyes out scenery in Northern Ireland, being beautiful beyond description. The direction is quite meticulous and as for the story, what a heart-squeezer! There is a time for tears, so be cautioned. But, as it ends happily, please don't skip the film! Beyond a doubt, the movie is a mighty miracle.

This film was great. I caught it on sun-dance. I couldn't stop watching it the flow of the film really is great ...and you just want to see what happens next. And that is what this film is about, "what happens next." Great. I don't really care for dog racing or anything but that's not really the point of the story or the real focus. It's just a device to move the characters across the board. But who cares? As long as you care about whats going on in the character's mind. Check it out if you can on Sundance or on disc if its available yet. It's a shame this movie hasn't received as much buzz as it deserves. Who knows, maybe it will eventually this year after being on the sun-dance channel.

saw the mighty celt at a local irish film festival and it was horrible. once again, scriptwriters use violence towards animals as a cheap tug at audience emotion, where their imagination falls short. the animal cruelty is superfluous. the advert and trailer are misleading. both reflect happy in the photo used to promote and the music in the trailer. as well, the trailer barely shows a hint of the violence and only in hindsight. shame on the filmmakers for making such a padded piece, on the marketers for misleading the public, and the festival for supporting such a film. BAD BAD BAD!!! it was a waste of time, i could have stayed home and adored my cat. it was a waste of money that i don't have, but like to support local festivals. if it wasn't for the company i was with i would have walked out the first scene.

The story line on this is fairly mainstream, but set in an Irish framework.

The accents here are noted as being "very realistic" by friends who appreciate Irish lore, history and culture, but are fairly difficult to discern by those of us who are "dialect-challenged". Other comments note the accuracy of the accents, but do consider turning the subtitles on with this one in order to catch the idiom and other nuances.

The character development is middle-of-the-road, and the cinematography is nicely done.

The story develops predictably, with only a few bumps in the road for younger viewers while more than adequately maintaining the interest of the adult viewing crowd.