Stella Days

Father Daniel Barry (Martin Sheen) hopes to enlighten the masses by opening a movie theatre. It's a '50s small town Ireland where traditions are still paramount. The bishop is eager to built churches, and he's against the immorality of Hollywood. Money is tight, and the collection plate is light.

Martin Sheen's presence is all that's holding up this movie. Stephen Rea plays the bad guy who opposes the theatre for its immorality. There are a few stories about the townfolks. The characters are all rather meek and the actors relatively pedestrian.

If the movie theatre is the driving force, then its climax is utterly underwhelming. I won't spoil it, but it's not much of a climax. Of all the characters/stories/scenes, the most memorable is the old woman who ask Father Barry to bless her electricity. The questions she asked are so poignant, and Martin Sheen's interaction with her is incredible. If the rest of the movie was just as good, then this would be amazing. But it's not and the movie crawl along to a whisper of an ending.

Fr Daniel Barry (Martin Sheen) ,a man of the World having served in America and Rome , who has a passion for Cinema , Music and Language is left to languish in a rural community in Co Tipperary in the 1950's. The Bishop is encouraging his Parish Priests to gather funds to build new churches in every Parish. Fr Barry is more inclined to set up a Cinema in the local hall, going so far as plundering the church building fund to do so. The film has a number of different issues going on, such as the Priest's own doubts about his vocation as he was sent by his parents to the priesthood, the rural electrification of Ireland in the 1950's, the effects of the necessary emigration of young Irish men in that era to send money home to families to survive and the power of the Church and the Politicians in the fledgling Irish State. The cast is a strong one. Martin Sheen , as Fr Barry, is resigned to life in the Village, his only beacons of light being the arrival of a young teacher in the village,( well played by Trystran Gravelle, ) full of encouragement and passion, though this falls apart when he indulges in passions of another king with his young landlady (Marcella Plunkett). Tom Hickey shines out as the Bishop with "A countryman's love of concrete", drooling over his church building project, as does Stephen Rea as the rural Politician with a dedicated opposition to "Hollywood Filth". The main fault of the Film is that it takes on a few too many themes at the same time. Despite that, it is still a worthwhile film. It is a valid look at 1950's Ireland, sometimes sentimental and quite often humorous!

Martin Sheen has landed a role that shows off his considerable talents in this small scale, sensitive and informed film from Tribeca. Based on a novel by Michael Doorley adapted for the screen by Antoine O. Flatharta and directed with sensitivity by Thaddeus O'Sullivan, the story takes place in Ireland of 1956, and the film opens with an introduction to bringing electricity into a very small town whose people have done very well without the new-fangled things, thank you very much.

The priest of the town is Fr. Daniel Barry (Martin Sheen), a loving man who hears confessions, makes his rounds offering oils of last rites to please one elderly ill patient and caring for his flock in a very human manner, is a man of the World having the Church both in America and Rome, who has a passion for Cinema , Music and Language is left to languish in a rural community after being replaced in Rome by a younger priest with greater credentials for scholarship. The Parish Bishop (Tom Hickey) has decided his parish needs a new, modern, concrete church and he burdens the parish priests to raise the funds for the project. There is a politician in the town - Brendan (Stephen Rea) - who vies for power with Fr. Barry, seeking political clout to reign in the filthy temptations of the world from his followers. Fr. Barry, on the other hand, devises a method for raising funds (and catering to his love for picture shows) by building a cinema. He is supported by a new young schoolteacher Tim (Trystan Gravelle, a young Welsh actor of great potential) - Fr. Barry overrode Brendan, further alienating himself. Tim finds room and board with a local young mother Elaine (Amy Huberman) whose alcoholic abusive husband is off to London leaving their young son Joey (Joseph O'Sllivan) without the nurturing of a father. The tale pits the worldly priest against the power hungry fundamentalist politicians and the significant people of the story are at first injured and then find a manner of redemption. In the end the 'bringing of light' to the little town in Tipperary via electricity and modern times merely reveals a path for conscientious folk to escape it all.

The cast is very strong, the musical score by Nicholas Hooper, and the countryside of Ireland is gorgeous. This is a little film with a big message that flies like a lark in the sky. Try to catch it!

Grady Harp

The main character,played by Martin Sheen ,is the most interesting;too bad they focused on his passion for cinema and his will to have a movie theater ,in spite of the well-meanings from his flock .The question of his faith is much more important:when the old lady passes away ,he realizes that she was not a true believer ,and flashbacks about the priest's childhood show that he did not feel a vocation for priesthood (he tells it so:"God never called me" ).It was his mother's dream (and selfishness),not his.

But this side of the priest (which is ,all in all,essential) is too underwritten .The other parts are cardboard ,particularly Stephen Rea's grumpy notable.The young teacher is more endearing but his affair with his (married with a kid) landlady is quite derivative ,even if he compares her to Jane Wyman in " All that heaven allows" -thus we learn that the story takes place after 1955,whereas the hints at Rex Ingram's "four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" and " The prisoner of Zenda" ,could make us believe the action happened much earlier.(though they were remade later)

Besides ,the choice (by chance?) of "from here to eternity" ( 1953) is not what you call a smart one to test the equipment;and it includes the famous scene when Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr (mistaken for Liz Taylor!) have an adulterous relationship at that! See it for Martin Sheen's moments of doubt and fear.

I took my Mum to see this film, never imagining I would enjoy it as much as I did.

Martin Sheen is commendable as the world weary Fr. Daniel Barry - a man living with the legacy of a vocation thrust upon him as a young boy by ambitious parents. The film offers a snapshot of life in claustrophobic, rural 1950's Ireland, with overlaying themes of longing, control and unfulfilled desires - set against the backdrop of an oppressive status quo.

Recommended - but don't expect to emerge from the cinema bellowing with laughter.