Plot Details: This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Society's Child
Plot Overview
A Dublin busker (Glen Hansard) is playing some mournful tunes (“Well, the healing has begun”) on Grafton Street when his take is took (“Don't f___ing go near that case”) by a heroin addict (Darren Healy). The busker pursues the thief but forgives him once he sees how pathetic he is. His song turns to a plea: “'Cause I'm pickin' up your message, Lord/ That I'm closer than I've ever been before./ So if you have something to say,/ Just say it to me now.” The guy really has a lot of heart, and I'm disposed to think his prayer will be answered, as according to Fr Zacharias, “We need pure hearts so as to detect and seize the will of God. … ¶“A man whose heart is refined will sense what is pleasing to God whatever the circumstances. His heart will participate in everything he does” (283–4).
Next arriving on the scene is a hawker of mags called “Issues,” a Czech girl (Markéta Irglová) holding the “Big Issue.” During the slow course of this one week, she draws him out through his songs to deal with his anger over the London girl who betrayed him. She plays the peacemaker. She herself holds the big issue of her difficult husband (Senan Haugh) of two years whom she left behind in the Czech Republic to come here with her mother (Danuse Ktrestova) and toddler (Kate Haugh). She is herself a pianist, and as the busker and hawker make groovy music together, feelings start to develop between the two of them (“Noor - ho - tebbe.”)
Ireland is a wonderful place for music. Musicians—any writer—can live there tax-free to work on their art. Everybody, but everybody, is supportive of their work. As author Robert Tanenbaum has written, "Irish have always held poets and storytellers in high regard, even as high as ... kings" (125). It is a musician's paradise. The older generation is straight arrows. The busker's father lived married to his mom until she died, as did the hawker's mother with her dad. They did what was best for their children. She has a young daughter needing her father who is out of sight. Ireland in recent years held a referendum on whether to even allow divorce. I don't know the result, but I think it safe to say Ireland is friendlier towards musical talent than it is towards divorce.
Ideology
Psalm 127
Except the LORD build the house, they labour in
vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city,
the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up
late, to eat the bread of sorrows: for so he giveth
his beloved sleep.
Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and
the fruit of the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so
are children of the youth.
Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of
them: they shall not be ashamed, but they shall
speak with the enemies in the gate.
This poem pictures a man who is a carpenter by day and moonlights as a night watchman. He's got his priorities all wrong; or at least they aren't godly. Rather than be a workaholic, he should spend time at home with a wife, make some babies, and they'll grow up to leave a mark on the world.
The guy who busks at night works in a repair shop by day, and the nighttime hawker of goods cleans houses days. They both pull an all-nighter together to cut a recording. No, no, no, that's not the way.
(Psalm 127:1-2)
Except the LORD build
the house, they labour in vain that build it:
except the LORD keep
the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.
It is vain for you
to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows:
for so he giveth
his beloved sleep.
If God hadn't planted someone nearby to watch the man's guitar while he chased the thief, he wouldn't have caught him. If God hadn't prepared the loan manager in advance, he wouldn't have got the loan to rent the recording studio.
Paul advises in the New Testament, (1Cor. 7:2) “to avoid fornication, let every man have his own wife, and let every woman have her own husband.” He's lonely and she's beautiful. He's handsome enough (according to the Czech mother) to get grabbed up by some girl if his ex-girlfriend should no longer want him. As they say in the old country, There's plenty of fish in the otsan. That's why there aren't any blond priests, per the band's joking: blonds have too much fun to lead celibate lives.
The advice for the girl is, (1Cor. 7:10-11) “Let not the wife depart from her husband: But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried or be reconciled to her husband.” She has a little one to consider.
(Psalm 127:3-5)
Lo, children are
an heritage of the LORD:
and the fruit of
the womb is his reward.
As arrows are in
the hand of a mighty man:
so are children of
the youth.
Happy is the man
that hath his quiver full of them,
they shall not be
ashamed:
but they shall speak
with the enemies in the gate.
Children take after their parents. The girl's musician dad saw to it that she learned the piano. The boy's repairman dad saw to it that he learned his trade. (Sirach 36:24) “He that getteth a wife beginneth a possession, a help like unto himself.” The guy guy would be less lonely were he to start his own family.
Where events might take them, though, is (Sir. 9:9) “Sit not at all with another man's wife, nor sit down with her in thine arms, and spend not thy money with her at the wine; lest thine heart incline unto her, and so through thy desire thou fall into destruction.”
Production Values
“Once” (2006) was written & directed by Irish screenwriter and director John Carney. It stars musicians (not actors) Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová. Their acting is very good, especially considering their inexperience. They're believable in their delivery of low-key, organic performances. Irglová at 17 manages to pass as twenty-something.
MPAA rated it R for coarse language that comes across as endemic to Ireland where it was shot. The two main actors were already friends, and their working "chemistry" is great. About 60% of the movie consists of music/singing, so it equates to a musical. The songs were mainly written by Irglová and Hansard and taken from Hansard's solo album, “The Swell Season.” The cinematography by Irish cinematographer Tim Fleming was good for using a handheld that followed the characters around. Since the music was folksy, not “established,” this form of video fit well with it.
Review Conclusion w/ Christian Recommendation
I enjoy folk music, so I liked this picture. The music was plaintive, but life would be dull if every song were zippity. It's easy to care for the characters. The film mercifully ends after about 1½ hours. It's more a movie about tying up loose ends than about starting a new adventure. It should set well with music lovers.
Movie Ratings
Action factor: Decent action scene. Suitability For Children: Contains coarse words not Suitable for Children. Special effects: Well, at least you can't see the strings. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall product rating: Three stars out of three.
Works Cited
Scripture quoted from the King James Version. Pub. 1611, rev. 1769, 2011. Software, print.
Apocryphal scripture taken from The Septuagint with Apocrypha: Greek and English. U.S.A.: Hendrickson Pub. Originally published by Samuel Bagster & Sons, Ltd., London, 1851. Print, WEB.
Tanenbaum, Robert K. Malice New York: Simon & Schuster, 2007. Print.
Zacharias, Archimandrite. Remember Thy First Love (Revelation 2:4-5): The Three Stages of the Spiritual Life In the Theology of Elder Sophrony. Dalton, PA: Mount Tabor Pub, 2010. Print.
bibles.n7nz.org