Into the West (film)
| Into the West | |
|---|---|
.jpg)
Theatrical release poster
|
|
| Directed by | Mike Newell |
| Produced by |
Jonathan Cavendish Tim Palmer Gabriel Byrne (associate) |
| Written by |
Jim Sheridan David Keating |
| Starring | |
| Music by | Patrick Doyle |
| Cinematography | Newton Thomas Sigel |
| Edited by | Peter Boyle |
| Distributed by | Miramax Family Films |
|
Release date
|
11 December 1992 |
|
Running time
|
97 minutes |
| Country | Ireland |
| Language | English |
Into the West is a 1992 Irish magical realist film about Irish Travellers written by Jim Sheridan and directed by Mike Newell.
Into the West was one of several major films to come from Ireland during the 1990s, including the likes of My Left Foot, The Miracle, The Commitments, The Boxer, The Playboys, In the Name of the Father, War of the Buttons and The Crying Game. The film also received several awards for Best Film, Best European Film, and Outstanding Family Foreign Film.
Into the West is a film about two young boys, Tito (Conroy) and Ossie (Fitzgerald), whose father "Papa" Reilly (Byrne) was "King of Irish Travellers" until his wife, Mary, died during the birth of their second son, Ossie. The boys' grandfather (David Kelly) is an old story-telling Traveller, who regales the children with Irish folk-tales and legends. When he is followed by a beautiful white horse called Tír na nÓg (meaning "Land of Eternal Youth" in Irish), from the sea to Dublin, where the boys and their father have now settled down in a grim tower block in Ballymun, the boys are overwhelmed with joy and dreams of becoming cowboys. The horse is stolen from them and they begin their adventure to get their mystical horse back. They escape the poverty of a north Dublin council estate, and ride "Into the West" where they find that Tír na nÓg is not just a horse.
The script was written by Jim Sheridan, who did not intend to write simply for children, although the film mainly follows two young children on the run with their beautiful, magical white horse. Other themes targeted to adults, are also present: grief, the clash of cultures with differing values, and the use of the police by the rich and powerful to enforce property rights in their favour. Sheridan wrote the script five years before he directed My Left Foot.
...
Wikipedia