This film presents the story of the Minnitt family in Ireland, beginning in about 1845. The Minnitts are of French Protestant extraction. They own what appears to be a relatively small parcel of land which is leased to tenant farmers who are primarily Catholics. The elder Minnitt is also a local judge. The plot focuses on the conflict between Judge Minnitt and his only son Robert with respect to the plight of the tenant farmers in the wake of a severe potato blight that persists for years. Robert is sympathetic to the Catholic tenants. Judge Minnitt is also sympathetic to the plight of the tenants but supports the government policy which condones the starvation and emigration of the affected farmers.
The movie runs about 95 minutes; it seemed a bit long.
The story being presented much like a stage play, it was hard to grasp the number of starvation deaths that occurred, even though several specific numbers were mentioned in the script. Here and there, we see a body lying by a road or in a field. Later, we were told that some of the persons we saw were soliciting funds to bury those dead. It was easy to miss some of the details.
It was an interesting movie, but I felt that it lost something by focusing narrowly on the victims. The only presentation of the government was a scene in which the manager of a "workhouse" is lunching on a roast chicken while people under his supervision are starving and dying. I would have liked to see the focus expanded to include the ruling rung of Irish society and the "favored" Irish farmers who were growing and exporting tons of food to Europe while their countrymen were dying of starvation.
In its present state, it is an enjoyable and educational movie.
