Kings is a movie which could have been set in practically any large metropolis on earth to where people migrate in search of a better life. The main characters could have been Russians, Poles, Brazilians, Chinese or any other nationality which is familiar with the phenomenon of mass emigration. In this instance however, the protagonists are Irishmen who left their native Connemara over 30 years previous to seek their fortune amidst the bright lights of London, whilst always retaining the intention of returning home in triumph.
However, like many of the hundreds of thousands who made the same journey, life did not work out as they had planned and a number of the group have seemingly fallen through life's cracks and would appear to now exist beyond the pale of civil society. They are of the generation of Irish immigration to the UK, many of whom would have encountered a degree of anti-Irish prejudice in Thatcher's Britain and would have borne the brunt of English reaction to the IRA's bombing campaigns of the 70s and 80s. As a result, it is clear that they have retained an otherness and a dislocation from their surroundings which means they can never call England home.
However the Ireland that they left, the one which their nostalgic notions still visualise, is also a changed, and indeed quite possibly foreign place. They are effectively men without a home and can seemingly deal with this fact only through immersion in drink and dysfunctionality. Women do not appear to any great extent, possibly because these men would appear to have never fully left adolescence behind. They inhabit the brutal world of the navvy, a quasi military existence eked out on the building sites and motorways of England, where the comradeship of mates is valued above all else, and where to break away from the group is viewed as being tantamount to treason. Indeed, this very issue is a major cause of tension between a number of the characters.
Kings, both as a study of the world of the universal emigrant, as well as of the immigrant that he or she subsequently becomes, is of great relevance to our 21st century existence. As a study of the human condition, it succeeds in capturing the disillusionment felt by all those, regardless of race or nationality, who may believe that they have wasted their existence. How ironic indeed, that the first Irish language feature is also quite possibly, the most universally accessible Irish feature to date with regard to the treatment of its subject matter.
Highly recommended.
However, like many of the hundreds of thousands who made the same journey, life did not work out as they had planned and a number of the group have seemingly fallen through life's cracks and would appear to now exist beyond the pale of civil society. They are of the generation of Irish immigration to the UK, many of whom would have encountered a degree of anti-Irish prejudice in Thatcher's Britain and would have borne the brunt of English reaction to the IRA's bombing campaigns of the 70s and 80s. As a result, it is clear that they have retained an otherness and a dislocation from their surroundings which means they can never call England home.
However the Ireland that they left, the one which their nostalgic notions still visualise, is also a changed, and indeed quite possibly foreign place. They are effectively men without a home and can seemingly deal with this fact only through immersion in drink and dysfunctionality. Women do not appear to any great extent, possibly because these men would appear to have never fully left adolescence behind. They inhabit the brutal world of the navvy, a quasi military existence eked out on the building sites and motorways of England, where the comradeship of mates is valued above all else, and where to break away from the group is viewed as being tantamount to treason. Indeed, this very issue is a major cause of tension between a number of the characters.
Kings, both as a study of the world of the universal emigrant, as well as of the immigrant that he or she subsequently becomes, is of great relevance to our 21st century existence. As a study of the human condition, it succeeds in capturing the disillusionment felt by all those, regardless of race or nationality, who may believe that they have wasted their existence. How ironic indeed, that the first Irish language feature is also quite possibly, the most universally accessible Irish feature to date with regard to the treatment of its subject matter.
Highly recommended.