St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (2000) (TV)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Robert Hughes

Writers:

Martin Duffy (written by)
Robert Hughes (written by)

Release Date:

12 March 2000 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Adventure | Fantasy

Plot:

A young Christian boy attends a druid worship that is attacked by invading Irish tribes. Taken captive...

Plot Keywords:

Character Name In Title | Actor Shares First Name With Character

Cast

Patrick Bergin	...	Patrick
Luke Griffin	...	Young Patrick
Alan Bates	...	Calpornius
Susannah York	...	Concessa
Malcolm McDowell	...	Quentin
Eamonn Owens	...	Benignus
Chris McHallem	...	Auxilius
Michael Caven	...	Iserninus
Stephen Brennan	...	Briain
Adam Goodwin	...	Brother Peter
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Peter Byrne	...	Ship Captain
Michael Carven
Ned Dennehy	...	Lucet Mael
Richard Gibson	...	Bishop of London
Maria Hayden	...	Nuala
Sean McDonagh	...	Young Man
Pat McGrath	...	Millihus
Emily Nagle	...	Young Nuala
Niall O'Brien	...	Longhaire
Ryan Smith	...	Young Brian
Alan Stanford	...	Paladius

Directed by
Robert Hughes

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Martin Duffy		written by
Robert Hughes		written by

Produced by
James Flynn	....	co-producer
Robert Hughes	....	producer
Paul Munn	....	line producer (as Paul Moran-Munn)
Martin O'Sullivan	....	co-producer
Morgan O'Sullivan	....	co-producer
Lance H. Robbins	....	executive producer
Eric S. Rollman	....	executive producer: post-production

Original Music by
Inon Zur

Cinematography by
James Mathers		(director of photography)

Film Editing by
Terry J. Chiappe		(as Terry Chiappe)

Casting by
Carmel O'Connor

Production Design by
Jim Furlong

Art Direction by
Irene O'Brien

Costume Design by
Maeve Paterson		(as Maeve Patterson)

Makeup Department
Fiona Hogan	....	assistant makeup artist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Kevan Barker	....	second unit director
Oak O'Connor	....	first assistant director

Art Department
Graeme Bird	....	propmaker
Dave Kinsella	....	stand-by props

Sound Department
Ray Cross	....	sound
Paul Di Franco	....	adr supervisor
Alan Lyons	....	boom operator
T.A. Moore Jr.	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Richie Egan	....	grip

Music Department
David Leon	....	music supervisor
Mark Ryan	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Paul Kelly	....	transportation captain

Other crew
Dermot Cleary	....	location manager
Mairtin De Barra	....	assistant location manager
Rodd Feingold	....	vice president: Physical Production
Eoin Heaney	....	production runner
David Murphy	....	production accountant
Sabine Wührer	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Fox Family Channel
• Sharpmist III Ltd.

Distributors

• Fox Family Channel

Runtime:

100 min | Germany:89 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Ireland

Company:

Fox Family Channel

Trivia:

'Alan Bates' was first asked to play Bishop Quentin.

See it, but not for historically accurate detail

OK, despite what I'm about to say, I enjoyed watching the film. Nothing, however, is perfect, and this piece suffered from as much ignorance as I have seen in any attempt to recreate the early Middle Ages. I was a monk for many years, so maybe I know more about such things than I should. Still, it looked as if the producers were trying without knowing how to try.

For instance, when Patrick, upon his return from slavery, asked his father for "a Bible", he was asking the impossible. There was no such thing available. The most he could have gotten would have been a bound book of the 150 Psalms, or maybe--since his father was, as depicted, a patrician landowner--a book containing the four Gospels. The story omitted any mention of the fact that Patrick's father was, himself, a deacon in the Church.

Further, there was no "arduous course of studies" for the priesthood, and people didn't have to travel to Gaul for training and ordination, though some, indeed, did. Training and ordination normally would have been undertaken by the local bishop.

Then, when Patrick said to Bp Quentin, "In Matthew, the 16th chapter, verses 19 and 20...", that, too, was impossible. The Bible wasn't divided into chapters and verses until the 17th century, by Archbishop Ussher. What Patrick *should* have said would be more like "Remember the words of Our Lord which we read in the Gospel for the 2nd Sunday in Lent..." Oh, and the grammar of the quoted Biblical passages--pronouns and verbs all mixed up? Homer Simpson does just about as well. (It's not hard to look something up and copy it out right.)

By the way, Patrick was far from ignorant of Latin, as portrayed in the scene with Bp Quentin. He wrote Latin poetry, and his autobiography (as partly read in a later scene) was written in fairly decent Latin.

Now--the vestments. It looked as if the producers had raided all of the costume shops in Lower Manhattan, and a few of the church sacristies, and tossed together whatever looked good to them--none of it the least bit authentic.

Bishop Quentin's getup was the worst--a modern Byzantine chasuble and a 15th-century Venetian Doge's cap. The copes worn by the other bishops and Patrick were of 18th-century design, which persisted down to fairly recently, when the flaps on the back began to be restored as proper hoods--and these were topped off in the film with 16th-century Canterbury caps! The white surplices worn by the messengers and acolytes and the white albs worn by the slaughtered flock of newly-baptized came right off the shelf of Guardian Church Goods on 7th Street. Pfui.

As I said, enjoyable enough, but it could have been way better if the producers had simply asked me!