Journal of a Sabbatical

January 9, 1999

waking Ned devine

After wasting most of the day failing to do errands and laundry, I drove down to Providence and picked up Nancy to go see Waking Ned Devine at the Avon. This is the funniest movie I have seen in a very long time. What happens when someone in a very small village in the middle of nowhere wins the lottery? Impossibly convoluted shenanigans, that's what.

Ian Bannen and David Kelly play buddies Jackie O'Shea and Michael O'Sullivan who scheme to deceive the lottery guy. Don't want to spoil it for anyone so can't say too much about plot . What I can say is David Kelly is hysterically funny! He's worth the price of admission by himself.

The movie was filmed on the Isle of Mann although the village in question is supposed to be in Ireland. The scenery is spectacular. Waves crashing against complex dark rock formations, vistas from every turn in the road, quaint village houses... it could be a tourist office video. Both Nancy and I developed an overpowering desire to visit the Isle of Mann.

I'm not usually big on spotting references to other movies, since I'm not really a cinephile, but I picked up three obvious references - well at least obvious to me. There's one scene where the villagers converge on the home of the local village "witch" that reminded me of the villagers scene in Frankenstein. Then there's a scene where the only child in the village summons up a seal to show off to the priest who's a substitute from out of town. This scene has absolutely no bearing on the plot, but it's scenic and cute and magical and refers clearly to The Secret of Roan Innish. Finally, there's a scene involving the "witch" and a telephone booth that alludes to the Wizard of Oz if ever there was an allusion. There are probably other filmic references that went right by me. The local pub did strike me as a little bit like Cheers. :-)

The continual references to "fruity soaps" by poor Pig Finn made me wonder how come no one offered him a bar of Irish Spring. "Manly yes, but I like it too!" Hmm, this sounds like an advertising opportunity for the Irish Spring people.

Some stuff I should have put in Wednesday's entry: The blue whale of which I spoke was struck by a ship in Narragansett Bay off Middletown, RI, the town in which Nancy works, and it has been a big topic of conversation in Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts since they brought it ashore on the beach in Middletown. A kid from Middletown took some pictures of the blue whale. The skeleton of said whale is now being pieced back together by bone experts at the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Eventually the whole skeleton will be on display at the museum in an addition being built to house it. Meanwhile, as the experts are piecing it together some of the bones are on view. Nancy and I checked them out when we were at the museum for the Moby Dick reading. So, now Wednesday's entry should make more sense.