Year Released: 2002
Directed by: Bruce Beresford
Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Vavasseur, Frank Kelly, Juliana Margulies
(PG, 93 min.)
Genre: Drama (based a a true story)

“What if it was your family? Wouldn’t you fight to get them back?” Desmond Doyle (Pierce Brosnan)

Forget that grotesque Oscar nominated The Banshees of Inisherin, and watch another Irish film with another Irish star. This one is over 2 decades old, but it resonates from an era before the world had turned itself upside down.

Based on a true story, a “youngish” Pierce Brosnan (just shy of 50 at the time, which Different Drummer now considers “youngish”) plays Desmond Doyle, a father “who will do everything to bring his children home” from the harsh Irish orphanages.

In this charged courtroom drama, a poor father butts heads with the Catholic Church and accepted Irish law in 1953 Dublin. When the wife of Desmond Doyle (Brosnan) abandons the family, social workers declare him an unfit father and place his children in orphanages. But a determined Doyle decides to take on both august institutions.

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As noted above, although filmed in 2002, Evelyn actually takes place in 1953, which coincidentally is the same year that Pierce Brosnan was born in County Meath, Ireland to a cook and carpenter. (He later moved to England at around age 10, accounting for his ability to sport a British or Irish accent as needed.)

Brosnan, perhaps best known for his turn at James Bond – cocky, stoic, and hard as nails – has never been more vulnerable.

Certainly not in The Foreigner, where Brosnan is a glib Irish Deputy Minister with a heart of stone, while it is Jackie Chan who is the father grieving for his daughter, and he smells the rot behind the bland Irish brogue of dodges and denials Pierce Brosnan dishes out so effortlessly.

Nor is he the brutal and lethal November Man, so named because when he appeared, death was soon to follow, where Brosnan portrays his emotions best by trying to hide them.

And in today’s feature Brosnan is not the uptight politician in The Ghost Writer, where he broadened his range beyond the steely-eyed stares and polished seductions of 007, capturing perfectly the public and private persona of an unctuous professional politician.

And not, at least in the beginning of Love is All You Need, where Brosnan plays an English widower who has sealed off his emotional core since the death of his wife.

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But in Evelyn Brosnan is “a fine mix of outward braggadocio and deep gentleness,” (Michael Wilmington) too often letting his emotions and booze rule him, whether it is in the tender goodbyes to his daughter and two sons,

his attempts to make money singing in a pub with his beloved father,

his drunken despair when all seems lost, or even his fiery temper where he punches out the local priest and almost chokes a cruel nun at his daughter’s orphanage. He is, in many ways, his own worst enemy.

That is until the pub’s barmaid Bernadette (Juliana Marguiles), who has witnessed and heard of these exploits, begins to set him straight. She and a curious band of lawyers dare to go against these intractable Irish institutions where the rigid church is married to the rigid state is a union that is certainly not blessed.

To win custody of his children seems an impossible task, since the mother who abandoned them is somewhere is Australia with no known address, and Desmond needs her permission to get custody.

“The law and justice are two entirely different matters,” [Nick Barron (Aidan Quinn)] seems to sum up the situation. But Desmond begins to get some steel in his spine at last.

Michael Beattie: To fight church and state is to fight Goliath.
Desmond Doyle: David beat Goliath in the book I read.

An American rival beau competing for Bernadette (Aidan Quinn), and an old injured rugby player now a retired rebel lawyer (Alan Bates) join forces with a steady headed lawyer Michael Beattie (Stephen Rea) to present his case in court.

Then a kind hearted but none too scrupulous gambler rigs a dog race to help Desmond win enough money to pay his legal bills. He does so by feeding the rivals of his intended winner nice sausages right before the race

“Let’s just say our dog was hungry to win,” he tells Desmond with a twinkle in his eye.

But the one who will determine the outcome – outside of the panel of three judges, one of whom is hard against him – is Desmond’s 9-year-old daughter Evelyn (Sophie Vavasseur). She has Desmond’s pluck, but none of his failings. Her testimony about Desmond’s rationale for choking the nun will turn the case one way or another.

But Evelyn has some assistance from beyond the grave, her loving grandfather (Frank Kelly) who had comforted her when he dropped her off at the orphanage with a tale of “angel rays”

Look at the rays! Do you know what these are: Angel rays! These mean that your guardian angel is remeinding you the he’s waiting to help you. All you have to do is believe in them. –Grandpa Henry Doyle

But in a tightly packed courtroom, can there be any angel rays to guide her? Will Evelyn submit to the tale the nun has fed her and the jury or feel strong enough to recall the truth she had written to her father?

You will have to watch this wonderful film to find out. Even if you think you know, it is not the destination but the journey that is everything.

Take that road with Desmond, Evelyn, and her brothers. It might even become your Road to Damascus…

–Kathy Borich
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Trailer

Film-Loving Foodie

At first Different Drummer, at least a quarter Irish herself, was tempted to feature a seven course Irish dinner – Seven pints and a potato – but thought better of it.

Instead I am featuring a typical Dublin dish that is tasty, easy to make, and not expensive, something poor Desmond would love. Feel free to slosh it down with a pint or two, but don’t go the full Desmond on us, ok?

“This is a very popular dish, especially in Dublin, and has been so for many years. It is nourishing, tasty, economical and warming - what more could you ask?” –Melanie Ross

Irish Coddle

Cook time: 55 Min Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 lb best sausages

8 oz streaky bacon

1 c stock or water

6 md potatoes

2 md onions

salt and pepper

Directions

Cut the bacon into 1in/ 3cm squares.

Bring the stock to the boil in a medium saucepan which has a well-fitting lid; add the sausages and the bacon and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Remove the sausages and bacon and save the liquid.

Cut each sausage into four or five pieces.

Peel the potatoes and cut into thick slices.

Skin the onions and slice them.

Assemble a layer of potatoes in the saucepan, followed by a layer of onions and then half the sausages and bacon.

Repeat the process once more and then finish off with a layer of potatoes.

Pour the reserved stock over and season lightly to taste.

Cover and simmer gently for about an hour.

Adjust the seasoning and serve piping hot.

Just a Pinch.com