If you only watch one video today, make it this one. Essential.
The escalating homeless crisis in Ireland has been the major topic of discussion over the weekend as the actions of the Home Sweet Home group in occupying the NAMA-owned Apollo House have once again highlighted the severity of austerity and poverty in our society.
Glen Hansard is just one of the many well-known figures that have lent their support to the cause, alongside the likes of Hozier, Saoirse Ronan, director Jim Sheridan and Mattress Mick. Another name that has lent his support to the Home Sweet Home group is director Terry McMahon.
McMahon has directed the films Patrick’s Day and Charlie Cassanova, but his most recent work in collaboration with Damien Dempsey, John Connors, Dean Scurry, Jim Sheridan and musician Maverick Sabre, is gaining serious kudos.
In his own words, he was working “with a group of remarkable young men at The Axis Theatre in Ballymun. That led to months of ongoing conversations about the nature of our nation and the political paralysis of our people. Larger meetings with leaders of the arts were sometimes wonderful but often just exercises in frustration. Invariably it would end up with me, Dean, John and Damo being perceived as too extreme in our insistence that whatever was to be done, it had to be on a grand scale. It would have to be something beneficial to our most vulnerable. But it would also have to be something that might awaken our national dormant spirit. It was an absurd ambition. A fantasy. An impossibility”.
Here’s the incredibly powerful result.
Clip via – Terry McMahon
If you’re looking for a little more context on the rousing speech, McMahon says that he was inspired by the “unsung heroes and heroines who have been working for decades to fight injustices, they had set in motion a philosophical, humanistic and, most importantly, pragmatic plan to protect our most vulnerable and inspire our collective spirit”.
It appears that the Oscar nominated director Jim Sheridan was instrumental in this movement.
McMahon says “Curtis ‘Fifty Cent’ Jackson has been shot twice but he said the only man he’s ever been sacred of is Jim Sheridan. That’s how tough Sheridan is. He is also a beautiful, courageous humanist and a hero to many. Including me. Some folk fought for the words, others didn’t. It was too long. Too extreme. Too much. The final decision was to keep it much simpler. When Sheridan opens his mouth people listen anyway. He doesn’t need a hack. The words were in the bin but the magic was happening. We walked to the GPO and Jim and Damo and Glen Hansard captured the mood better than any hack. That night the NAMA building was taken and something magical was born.”
This is our Ireland.
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