Own the rights?
7 out of 9 people found the following review useful: See it, but not for historically accurate detail, 23 March 2000 Author: placid-3 (westirvind@exchange.uams.edu) from Little Rock, Arkansas
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!
4 out of 4 people found the following review useful: A wonderful portrait of Ireland's Saint Patron., 27 March 2001 Author: IAGO-16 from Montevideo, Uruguay
St. Patrick is probably one of the best known saints in the Western World, and certainly America's most revered one, his shamrocks and greenery covering New York and other great cities on his day. But even those devote Irish who proudly parade in or out of uniform, will learn something about the man who brought the Gospel to Ireland, in this splendid biopic which takes Patrick as a young Christian Scot who is captured and taken to Ireland as a slave, only to fall in love with these heathen people, and dedicate his whole life to save them from paganism.The film is supported by a splendid cast, but its principal merit is the sensible, unobtrusive way in which it mixes the human, heroic story of the man, with the necessary miracles of the saint, and his duel of prodigies with the heathen druids is casually inserted in the more factual story of his labours, not without catering to the Irish by depicting a rapacious "British church" in perhaps the only departure from strict historical truth, since Patrick lived long before the English considered themselves such. Which doesn't prevent Malcolm McDowell from adding another splendid villain to his gallery, as the ambitious and autarchic Bishop Quentin.
3 out of 3 people found the following review useful: My family loved this movie, 3 January 2007 Author: wittenextra from Canada
I want to put in a good word for this movie. I watched it with my family, including husband, sons 19 and 17, and daughter 13. We all enjoyed it. The plot moves along, characters are well developed, and the important events of St. Patrick's life are covered with reasonable accuracy. The movie avoids getting bogged down in confusing historical details.Several miracles/legends are depicted by special effects that may seem out of place to some viewers, but they are all famous legends told about St. Patrick. (eg. his banishing of snakes from Ireland)I bought some DVDs not locally available for rent this Christmas, and thought I'd list my three favorites for others who are looking for something other than the usual Hollywood fare. 1.St. Patrick the Irish Legend (I really liked it that much!) 2. Ushpizin (Award winning Israeli film with English subtitles) 3. The Way Home (Award winning Korean film with English subtitles)
3 out of 4 people found the following review useful: Beautiful And Fun To Watch- A Feel Good Movie!, 23 February 2005 Author: soblessed from Ohio, U.S.A
I loved this movie,but since I know nothing about the story or legend of St. Patrick,I watched it as a fantasy and enjoyed it very much. After reading the other reviews here I can agree with the historical inaccuracies,and that is a shame,if this was indeed meant to be a factual retelling. But as the title of the DVD said it was "The Legend of Ireland" I did not go into watching this movie with any expectations of historical truths. Therefore,I thoroughly enjoyed this film,and it truly is beautiful and a definite"Feel Good" movie!It has peaked my interest to do some more research on St. Patrick and Ireland as well.If you enjoy movies about how God can work in and change people's lives as I do,I do not think you will be disappointed in this film.
4 out of 7 people found the following review useful: A slave boy grows up to be Bishop of Ireland., 18 March 2000 Author: Michael O'Keefe from Muskogee OK
A young boy is kidnapped and forced into slavery, guarding sheep in Ireland. With his faith in God, he returns home only to decide to study to become a priest and introduce Christianity to the poor and enslaved people of Ireland. His deeds led him to becoming the second Bishop of Ireland. Very informative look at this fifth century personage. His reported use of the shamrock as an illustration of the Holy Trinity led to its being regarded as the Irish national symbol.A very talented cast featuring Patrick Bergin as the adult Patrick and Luke Griffin as the young Patrick. Malcolm McDowell, Alan Bates and Susannah York seemed flawless.
1 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Nil me' sasta., 16 March 2007 Author: adougher9 from United States
*** This review may contain spoilers ***
This film is beautiful in many regards. I took a particular affinity to the personality of the actor who portrayed Padraig's mentor. Padraig himself was also moving. However I do not recommend this film or others like it to anyone with sympathy for the Gael, on account of its "focal i frithshuidiu" (word in opposition) like satiric quality. Better to try interlibrary loan but note, many books are similarly affected and prone to agitate. There is not much in the way of films that give a truly positive or indeed accurate portrayal of Pagan and Christian Gaelic society. There are however many websites that would satiate the Irish History buff. Happy St. Padraig's day!
1 out of 3 people found the following review useful: TVM values with a too mystical and heavy telling of the story, 23 March 2003 Author: bob the moo from Birmingham, UK
With the English church looking to remove his hold over the Christians in Ireland, Patrick sits down to write his life story, starting with his kidnapping into slavery in his teens, his discovery of God and his return to Ireland as a missionary for the Church.Here's one film that you can pretty much guarantee that you'll be able to catch at least once a year somewhere on cable, not because it's good but mainly because it's one of very few films I can think of about St Patrick. I knew things were going to be rocky from the first five minutes where Patrick confronts a group of heathens and stops their worship by using `his' powers to melt their gold statute and then shatter their rock alter. It played like he was a wizard rather than a priest and, I know the legends maybe do that, but the way the film portrayed him really brought out that side of things.This telling sucks a lot of life out of the legend and I do think that the story of St Patrick is better told by word of mouth than by this film. The second weakness is that everything is so damn worthy and reverent. I didn't expect jokes but everyone is reading delivering their lines like they are reading the word of God – the young Patrick is especially guilty of this crime. It isn't terrible but it has all the usual flaws of a TVM.The cast are OK on paper but are only average at best. Bergin is too reverent and really comes across like a lead weight than a character. The support are also too much of cardboard cut-outs and really could have been replaced by anyone doing Oirsh clichés. Malcolm McDowell is actually quite good because it is apparent from the off that he is overplaying and having a bit of fun – at least he brings a bit of sorely needed energy to the film.Overall if it wasn't for the fact that it is tied to a particular day then I doubt this film would get much of an airing. If you can put up with all the TVM weaknesses then it is still an interesting legend but you really have to dig to find the gold here.
1 out of 3 people found the following review useful: It starts off pretty good, but turns a little too unbelievable, 15 March 2003 Author: Andrew Nixon (movies@andrewnixon.com) from Santa Barbara, CA
This is a decent telling of the life of Patrick from teen, to Irish slave, to Bishop of Ireland, to Patron Saint of the Irish. It gives a lot of information and background on the legend of the man who becomes the saint. It's starts off pretty good, but turns a little too unbelievable towards the end when he starts using magical powers. At one point, he chokes a man like Darth Vader using the force. It's just a little too over the top. The cinematography of the Irish countryside is beautiful.**1/2 (Out of 4)
Add another review
