Rosie

This evening a mob should storm Leinster house and frogmarch our political elite down Kildare street, across College Green and up O'Connell street to the Savoy. They should be made sit in the biggest screen and be forced to watch Paddy Breathnach's new film Rosie. They should have their faces rubbed in the misery of the people they pay lip service to every day. It won't change anything of course apart from making them squirm for an hour and a half. They should feel ashamed for allowing the country to get to this state.

We meet Rosie Davis 2 weeks after herself, her partner John Paul and their 4 children have been evicted by their landlord who's selling their home. Rosie's days consist of looking after the children while trying to secure temporary accommodation for her family while John Paul earns the family money. Never off the phone to hotels and constantly on the move, neither her or JP have time to look for a real home and dealing with increasingly restless kids is taking its toll. On top of all this, due to the housing crisis even finding temporary accommodation is getting harder and harder.

Stories don't get more topical than this. These are the people and the stories we see on the news every evening. On Primetime. In the audience of the Late Late show. The people who don't matter anymore. This is a horror story for modern day Ireland. A terrifying glimpse at the hardships enduring by thousands of families everyday in Ireland. It's brutal, stressful, upsetting and suffocating watch but amazingly it's also a film that exudes warmth and love even in the most miserable conditions. It's not a film about easy solutions and it offers no answers but it makes a point of showing us how important family love is. 

It's a watch for the keyboard warriors of social media and the abyss that is the comments section of the journal. The people who accuse all homeless people of being alcoholics, drug addicts, who say it's all their own fault. This film shows how easily it can happen to anyone especially those of us living precariously in the rental market. Most people are one pay packet away from this fate, living at the whim of a landlord who can up the rent or sell your home out from underneath you. Others don't have a family to run to or if they do it's a family they can't live with. A scene between Rosie and her mother hints at a dark familial secret, one so dark Rosie and JP would rather stay in a car than under her roof. It's the closest the film comes to a boogeyman. Writer Roddy Doyle wisely downplays the drama and lets the horror build from what we see onscreen. People aren't out to make things harder for our characters, John Paul's boss is pretty sound for example, it's just that the system is a mess. The Davis's downward trajectory is as terrifying as anything you'll see onscreen this year because it could happen to any of us. And a scene involving a backyard trampoline quickly turns into the tensest thing you'll have seen in an age.

Brilliant performances all around will glue you to the screen. Sarah Greene as Rosie is onscreen for the vast majority of the film and she'll keep your attention rapt. She's absolutely believable as a woman who's just barely holding her sanity and her dignity together. Moe Dunford is just as good in a smaller role as a man who's heart is breaking when he finds himself suddenly unable to provide for his family. Outwardly he keeps smiling to show a brave face for his kids but inside he's dying. The chemistry between him and Sarah is lovely despite their dire straits. The kids are great too especially little Millie (Ruby Dunne) who's starting to suffer at school when rumours of their predicament start to filter through.

Thankfully Breathnach and Doyle sprinkle a little humour on proceedings to stop it all becoming too oppressive. A kiddie's tea party will amuse you with young voices speaking lines you'd expect to hear from pensioners, a chipper meal that rapidly degenerates into a messy food fight, a mention of a popular netflix show. But after every smile there's a gutpunch. It's something the best Irish films have always been successful at doing. Tickling your funny bones while simultaneously kicking you in the balls.

As I write this Dennis Naughten, the Minster for Communication is in the news for resigning his role in the wake of a scandal involving the national broadband plan. Yet another example of the joke that is our government. Disgraceful. It's failing the people it's suppose to be in charge of. People just like Rosie and John Paul. Go see this if it's screening near you. It's the most important film you'll see all year.