A Fallow Land
Faiscthe As An Talamh
Seán Ó Cualáin
Ireland | 2006 | 50mins | DVD | Colour | Subtitled
This documentary tracks a year in the life of an Irish rural family and captures a defining moment – the decision to end full-time farming on the family holding. We are brought right into the lives of Séamus and Máirín de Búrca on their small farm in Ros Muc Connemara as it lovingly and unobtrusively conveys a big story by its chronicling of small and mundane moments in one family’s life.
The bittersweet change from the daily toil of farming to a more urban style of living brings comfort but also a sense of loss.
Without emotion, the parents labour and toil in the realisation that they are the last to work this land for a living. It may not be good land but it is their land – and they know that none of their seven children will follow them on a full-time basis.
Séamus de Búrca has seen more changes in Ros Muc in his lifetime than had taken place in the previous six hundred years but the flight from the land has been the most significant and the most traumatic. This compassionate but compelling documentary brings it all home.
Will be screened with Gama Strike: A Victory For All |
