First broadcast on the Irish language station TG4 in 2010, this biopic told the story of P. H. (Padriag) Pearse (Tadhg Murphy), one of the leading lights of the Easter 1916 Rising.
Born to an Anglo-Irish family, Pearse started life as an educator working in high schools, but soon became radicalized once he understood the sufferings experienced by his people at the hands of the British colonizers. He became a staunch supporter of the Irish Language Movement, advocating the use of Irish in schools rather than English.
Although not a violent radical by nature, Pearse did believe in the importance of social change. Hence it was perhaps inevitable that she should become embroiled in the Irish independence movement during the First World War.
Pearse became one of the leading lights of the band of rebels who took over Dublin's Central Post Office on Easter Monday 1916 and held it for five days, proclaiming as they did so the creation of a new Irish Republic. Although they were eventually overwhelmed by a superior British force, their efforts were not forgotten.
Nonetheless Pearse might have ended up as a footnote to history, were it not for the British decision to execute him along with other ringleaders in the Easter Rising. Thereafter he became a martyr, and by doing so achieved what Pearse had been looking for in the first place - to be remembered for his efforts.
Combining archive film with re-enacted scenes shot on the locations where the Rising took place, this was a tightly constructed biography of a great man, one who stood up for his rights in spite of all provocations not to do so.
Born to an Anglo-Irish family, Pearse started life as an educator working in high schools, but soon became radicalized once he understood the sufferings experienced by his people at the hands of the British colonizers. He became a staunch supporter of the Irish Language Movement, advocating the use of Irish in schools rather than English.
Although not a violent radical by nature, Pearse did believe in the importance of social change. Hence it was perhaps inevitable that she should become embroiled in the Irish independence movement during the First World War.
Pearse became one of the leading lights of the band of rebels who took over Dublin's Central Post Office on Easter Monday 1916 and held it for five days, proclaiming as they did so the creation of a new Irish Republic. Although they were eventually overwhelmed by a superior British force, their efforts were not forgotten.
Nonetheless Pearse might have ended up as a footnote to history, were it not for the British decision to execute him along with other ringleaders in the Easter Rising. Thereafter he became a martyr, and by doing so achieved what Pearse had been looking for in the first place - to be remembered for his efforts.
Combining archive film with re-enacted scenes shot on the locations where the Rising took place, this was a tightly constructed biography of a great man, one who stood up for his rights in spite of all provocations not to do so.
