The Hanging Gale (1995)

The Hanging Gale is another excellent example of a made for television mini-series. Its subject is the devastation to one family resulting from the Irish potato famine of the mid 1800's in which half of the population of Ireland was depleted either by death or emigration.The cast is headed by four acting brothers - Joe, Mark, Paul, and Stephen McGann - who give powerful performances as brothers in Ireland fighting - politically and physically - to save their land from the British landlord. The most intriguing performance in the film is given by Michael Kitchen as the landlord's agent.Townsend, the agent, is certainly not a Simon Legree, but he is a complex man who seems to make many wrong decisions despite himself. Even though he is educated and obviously has the means and moral sense to overcome the landlord, it seems that he becomes as much a victim as the starving tenant farmers.The superior acting all 'round and the excellent production values of the film enable the viewer to vicariously experience what it must have been like for these extraordinarily poor people as their very ability to exist withered away. This is a powerful film that gives you a glimpse into a dark period of history.

One of the things that makes this series great, instead of just really good is the nuanced performance by Michael Kitchen of the conflicted land agent. This man is a truly fantastic and totally underrated actor. It would have been an easy cliché to make the land agent a total monster, but instead he is very human, but also has an ugly job to do. The scene in which he tries to connect with the servant girl Mary by telling her about his years in India and issues with Lord Cardigan, while not the most dramatic, is poignant. He's lonely and trying to connect with a girl who has no idea what he's talking about and just wants to get out of the room. Very subtle and nicely done.

Let's not get carried away with calling it a pan-European blight. England isn't the villain, but the RM (played by Kitchen) is an agent not just of the Landlord but of the English government and its Laissez faire procedure. That's what I like about it - there's no blatant condemnation, but one gets the feel of what the Irish, supposedly full members of the Act of Union, really got from the powers that be along with their own share of greed and folly. It touches on the social, political, and most importantly, moral situations confronted by these benighted folk. Although it does not show the horrors of the workhouses, it does portray the idiocy of the 'works' projects. Most spectacularly, we see how family, the mainstay of Irish culture, is brought to its knees and nearly destroyed totally. It's also one of the few films where women in seemingly minor positions display amazing feats of strength, both physical and spiritual. Probably the most balanced film on this subject to date.

Nothing beats this film about the Irish potato famine and it's impact on impoverished families... The McGann brothers are excellent, most notably Paul McGann, who is a very intense (and cute) actor who really deserves more attention. Good to watch on St. Patrick's day or any other day. A+