Mise Eire

George Morrison’s film Mise Éire (‘My Ireland’) has held an iconic status in Irish cultural history since its release in 1960, yet remains more often associated with its musical rather than cinematic director. Seán Ó Riada’s orchestral score drew heavily from Irish traditional sources. Mise Éire was actually the first Irish feature-length film that utilized an orchestral soundtrack, but its renown also rests on its director’s then relatively novel technique of recounting historical events entirely through existing archive material. And what a story he was able to relate, covering twenty or so years of political change in Ireland from the 1890s to 1918. This period witnessed the flowering of Irish Nationalism, not just from a political standpoint, but through cultural and social conduits harnessed by the Gaelic League and the Gaelic Athletics Association and given artistic impact via the founding of the Abbey Theatre by W.B. Yeats and Lady Gregory. Morrison adroitly draws all the strands together through some remarkable footage, placing especial emphasis on the abortive Easter Rising of 1916 and populating his composite with numerous archive shots of key players such as Pádraig Pearse, James Connolly, Éamon de Valera and one of the leading post-1916 figures, Michael Collins.