THE COMMITMENTS

"The Commitments" is one of the greatest of all Irish films, though I suppose technically, it wasn't 'Irish' at all; it was made with 'money from America' as we say in this country and it was directed by an Englishman, Alan Parker, who brought to it an outsider's eye, but it was originally a novel by Dubliner Roddy Doyle, who co-wrote the script with Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais and few Irish films got under the skin of the Dublin psyche in quite the same way.

It's about a young Dub called Jimmy Rabbitte, (Robert Arkins), putting together a soul band called The Commitments and it's a terrific musical mainly because the young cast, all newcomers, do their own singing and play their own instruments; there isn't a false note in this movie at all. The acting may be uneven, but remember most of the cast weren't necessarily trained actors, (their background was in music), and were at the start of their careers. The lead singer is Andrew Strong and he's tremendous; it's almost impossible to believe that Strong was only 16 when he was snatched from obscurity for this film. The girls in the band are Angeline Ball, Maria Doyle and Derry's own Bronagh Gallagher and they are all wonderful, particularly Gallagher. One of the boys in the band is Glen Hansard, a Dublin busker who went on to win the Oscar for the song "Falling Slowly" and a Tony for the musical "Once". It's also very funny and just a little sad; this is a musical that tells it like it is and doesn't pull its punches. It went on to win the BAFTA as the best film of the year.