A man long lost, returning to the house in which he was born. An unfulfilled love story. An old tin hall in 1930s rural Ireland. But this is no ordinary derelict hall, it is a hall which keeps a community’s spirit alive, keeps its children out of mischief, keeps the youth from dancing in the streets. This is not just a hall, this is Jimmy’s Hall.
Reunited with his homeland after 10 years of self-imposed exile, Jimmy Gralton (Barry Ward) is a changed man, quiet and withdrawn. And yet, when the young people of Effernagh, Co. Leitrim beg him to reopen the old hall at the crossroads, his heart sparks again with the spirit of active goodwill and goodhearted activism which so fires him up. So with the willing hands of many, Jimmy’s Hall is thus reborn. Amidst peals of laughter, hope and American Jazz, its joyful potential of learning is reborn. Jimmy’s Hall is more than its four walls, it is the promise of education, of family, of fun.
What ensues is a battle for the life-force of a community caught in political turmoil…
However, British director Ken Loach’s latest offering is not a tale of unfettered joy or of unbridled happiness. This spirit of fun and self-made learning is felt as a threat to the local priest and councilors, or as Jimmy’s old flame Oona (Simone Kirby) puts it, the ‘pastors and masters’. The community’s dancing is seen as sinful pleasure, their learning as insult to the teachings of the church, and harsher a judgment still, Jimmy himself is reviled as a ‘filthy communist’. What ensues is a battle for the autonomy and the life-force of a community caught in political turmoil, financial uncertainty and unrest.
It is not, however, the political undertow on which the emphasis is placed. This is indeed a film about socialism, but more importantly it is a film about the human beings it affects, either for or against. JIMMY’S HALL is one of those films which effortlessly manages to remain a thoughtful slow-burner whilst pulsing with the energy and life of a people distracted but not dismayed by their suffering. This is a story told with real violence and real heart. Even as Jimmy is carted off by horse and trap to his fate of deportation from Ireland, the young people he has so inspired and enlivened tear after him on bicycles, their faces beaming with goodbyes and the thrill of the chase. A smile dances across Jimmy’s mouth, flickers in his eyes and in our own.
httpvh://youtu.be/iUQ9s2ex4HE