DCU’s recent screening of North Circular was more than just a film showing; it was a powerful reflection on Dublin culture – one that left the audience deeply moved and inspired meaningful conversations.
The film was shown as a part of a day long symposium for Dublin Book Festival held in DCU.
The screening ended the days packed events.
The flicker-on of the projector transported the audience to a nostalgia-filled world: a young voice gives life to an old Irish melody as black-and-white shots of Phoenix Park dance across the screen; a gentleman plays the bagpipes complaining about the younger generation too glued to their screens to pick up instruments like his, and speaks longingly of the history that will one day die with him.
North Circular is truly a movie about longing. A middle-aged woman appears on screen, speaking of her childhood and the times changing. She longs for community, something she speaks as if it is now lost. She describes growing up in O’Devaney Gardens, and how everyone knew each other there – a community bonded by the shared experience of being shunned by the outside for its “anti-social behaviour”.
Though I agreed with her displeasure at community flats like hers being knocked down (“killed”) to be replaced with over-urbanised and secluded apartment complexes, I wasn’t quite sure about her support of anti-social behaviour being “good craic”. Situations don’t have to be black-and-white (much how the movie is shot). Good change should be embraced.
A community that bonds over feeling isolated from the world and cheering when the young burn cars, I would argue, is not a safe and healthy environment for children to grow. Isolated apartment complexes aren’t great either as that sense of community tends to be lost, but efforts can be made to build a healthy community there with time. It is a matter of perspective, I believe, but perhaps it is I who does not see her perspective.
Change can be good, but it can have other effects too. Unfortunately, as Dublin is ever-changing and growing, it is at the cost of its culture. North Circular emphasises a frustration that is common in the Dublin of today. Every day we wake up and another Irish business is closed, another pillar in the community is dismantled. For example, The Cobblestone was truly a pillar to the community in Stoneybatter and the greater community of North Dublin, where people of all ages gathered to sing Irish folk music and celebrate Irish culture. Anger and grief crowded the streets in the forms of protests when the news came out: The Cobblestone is no more. Closed down to be replaced with – you guessed it – another hotel.
Hotels are piling up at the corner of every street, for tourists to come and experience the Irish culture that those same hotels kill. Irish people cry out but are rarely heard. The people revolt, but they’re not even glanced at. The media barely even covers it. We have become desensitised to our businesses and our communities being shut down weekly. We want Dublin to grow but not at the cost of what we hold dear. As put beautifully in an interview presented in North Circular, we do not want to see “what we’ve built with broken hands, being taken away”.
North Circular delves into other topics that we know too well, such as the treatment of our forgotten elderly and the homeless which we often overlook in our shame and guilt. Our elderly are often left with no support and no care, forgotten until the authorities find them passed away in their own homes weeks after they were last seen. How have we allowed things to get so far that we fail to take care of the people that nurtured us? Why is there so little support for the elderly in a country with an ageing population?
The Dublin people feel robbed. Too much has been taken and not enough has been given. Many of us point our finger at those less fortunate than us; those on the streets, those who battle addiction and those who end up in unsavoury places like Moutjoy. Pointing is easy when you are on a platform where those sufferings don’t reach you. The truth is that those that battle homelessness, addiction and even many that end up in Mountjoy, do so due to a lack of resources and support. For those who grew up in areas that are considered more ‘rough’, going to Mountjoy is almost seen as a “right of passage”, and they end up right back there as soon as they leave due to a lack of support when leaving the prison. Many end up right back into their drug addiction, repeating the cycle as soon as they are out.
North Circular was a shock to my system. It portrayed beautifully the cries of the Dublin people that we have heard for so many years now. It challenged my thinking and I believe it is a film that everyone living in Dublin should see at least once. It was a love letter and eulogy to Dublin as we know it. For what is grief if not love for something lost?