Mighty Celt, The Review

"THE MIGHTY CELT" reviews

Movie

THE MIGHTY CELT

Author

anonymous

Date reviewed

2005-10-25 21:09:37

Provider

MRIB

Review

Things must really be looking up in Northern Ireland if the province can produce a film with major stars that only touches on 'the troubles'. The Mighty Celt features Robert Carlyle and Gillian Anderson (still best known as Scully from X-Files), though its central character is young Donal (Tyrone McKenna), whose special way with his four-legged friends secures him an after-school job with greyhound trainer Good Joe (Ken Stott).

When he saves a pooch from being put down by the unsympathetic Joe, Donal adopts him as his own, renaming him the Mighty Celt (named after a comicbook hero), turning him into an all-conquering sprinter on the track. Meanwhile, his domestic life is becoming intertwined with his mother's past boyfriend, former terrorist O (Carlyle). Anderson is superb as Donal's mum, mastering the accent and turning in a convincingly dowdy performance as the unglamorous single parent.

Carlyle's role is more controversial, and director Pearse Elliott appears to have a rather indulgent view of his past activities, even if the film insists he has now laid down his arms. Similarly, Donal's crushing poverty is ennobled by the writer-director (which makes McKenna's rather posh accent somewhat incongruous). Though the film has serious flaws, its central, if well-worn, rites-of-passage theme is well handled.

Ultimately, The Mighty Celt is a hard film to love, though equally impossible to dislike.

Copyright © MRIB 2005.