'I'll get an awful slagging' - Liberties residents react to film

A documentary on Dublin's Liberties area captures a community in all its light and dark moments. But what did its subjects make of it at this week's screenings, asks SINÉAD GLEESON.

JACK Roche, owner of what Brenda Fricker calls the “best shop in Dublin”, is standing in the hallway of St Nicholas of Myra parish church. We’re discussing his involvement in a new documentary about Dublin’s Liberties and he is constantly interrupted by a stream of people attending tonight’s screening.

Everyone here knows everyone else. Made by film-makers Shane Hogan and Tom Burke, the 15 short films focus on people from the Liberties and on how the area has changed. Roche, owner of a fruit and vegetable shop, is foremost among them, and is acutely aware of this change. “There’s a great mix of people here now. We’ve had everyone bar Eskimos coming in and the influx of different nationalities has been great.”

His story is one of several that captures the work ethic of the area. Eugene “Tailorman” is one of the last tailors left here, and in his heyday he made suits for musicians such as Joe Dolan. He and stonemason Brendan Crowe lament the fact that young people are not choosing craft trades anymore.

Shane Hogan, one of the film's two directors, is keen to point out that craft and work are central to the films but the real story of Libertiesis the sense of community. "It's a place that represents the original social network we're all trying to recreate online. The oral tradition here is so strong that it made perfect sense to tell these stories."

The film is an honest, engaging account. The people who make up the geographical heart of the Liberties are given free rein to say what they want about their streets. Tom Burke was adamant about avoiding platitudes. “We were very conscious of that John Hinde postcard effect, and of not doing a ‘rare auld times’ take on things. We wanted to have a couple of angles – things like work, drugs – but we didn’t want to tackle them head on. By letting those issues percolate in the background, it felt more realistic.”

Nowhere is this realism felt more than in the story of the Osbornes, a family who raised seven girls in a two-bedroom flat and lost one of their daughters to heroin. It’s a tragic account of a short life, but it’s clear that the family feel the film in some way immortalises her life.

Many of those interviewed took part because they wanted to contribute to a lasting memorial of the Liberties. Paul Larkin, and his brother Declan, run a family butchers and tonight in the parish hall, Paul gets a big cheer when he appears on screen.

"When I went to the IFI screening, they showed another old film about the area [ Clubs Are Trumps(1959)] and I'd like to think that this film will be looked back on in the same way – but I'll get an awful slagging off the customers tomorrow," he laughs.

There’s plenty of humour in the stories and the biggest laughs on the night are for two well-known local flower sellers. Phyllis Kavanagh and Mary Hand have lived hard lives but laughter has always kept them going. Kavanagh is a jovial woman with strong views on immigrants (“They’re like a rat in a hole”), but Shane Hogan feels that even if that view is unpopular, it was important to let people be themselves. “New communities coming in challenge local people’s views, so it’s valid to show that these kinds of opinions exist.”

What comes across is the sense of kinship and loyalty among the area's dwellers. In a segment called Trolley Dollies, one woman sums it up by saying: "It would take you two hours to walk down Meath Street."

Actress Brenda Fricker says her letterbox is too small to accommodate scripts and if Geoghan’s (her local shop) didn’t take them in for her, “I’d never get any work”.

One of the most affecting films serves as a reminder of the poverty that once ruled the area. Sarah, an elderly newspaper seller, is filmed in silence. Off camera, when asked by the filmmakers what the news for the day is, she reveals that she can’t read.

As an archive of a locale, these films feel as though they belong to the people, something that Shane Hogan says “helps define in people’s mind that they’re important and are worthy of attention”. He hopes the film has a national appeal because it’s about people and community, regardless of location. Featuring a kick-boxing chipper owner, and rag-and-bone man Ollie “Valentine” Bolger, it’s intrinsically a story of place and time. “There’s a quiet recognition that we’ve created a folk archive of something important to them,” says Tom Burke.

Tailor Eugene Fagan agrees. “I have a copy of the film at home and I’ll take it out from time to time to remind myself what everything looked like.”

Libertiesis showing at Rua Red, South Dublin Arts Centre on Saturday at 1pm and 5pm, and at Dublin's IFI on August 2nd