The Silver Branch by Katriona Costello │ 75 mins │ Ireland, 2018
Film will be available for 48 hours after purchase.
glór is delighted to present a short summer season of film – Summer Out West showcases three critically acclaimed films unique to the west of Ireland.
The Silver Branch depicts the life and insights of the inimitable philosopher, poet, and fifth-generation farmer, Patrick McCormack, owner of ‘Fr Ted’s House’ in the beautiful, austere Burren.
Through Patrick’s eyes and pastoral verse, this beautifully shot film immerses us in the exquisite textures of the natural world, bringing us a rare glimpse of a disappearing Way of Life with all its richness and roguery, and leading to a deep connection with the Earth and our Ancestral wild spirit.
Patrick longs more than anything to live as his ascendants did; to farm these windswept hills in a slow quite pace, to maintain the relics of the ancestors; the ancient stone walls and small rocky fields. But his life gains a different momentum when he and a small grew of friends are called to Battle in the Supreme courts, to decide on the fate of this iconic wilderness
Though it is centred around this remarkable man, the harshness of life and his elusive search for ‘unity of being’, the film explores universal themes, which invites the viewer to follow in mindfulness meditation and to take a journey into the self; a time to consider the relationship between man and landscape, between tradition and spirit and how we inhabit what is asked of us in our everyday lives.
A true gaisce, finding the universal in the local – with a sure footedness that is most unusual, magical … a unique and an important cinematic gift” Brendan Gleeson
‘…breathtakingly lovely… a character study of a remarkable man, with rich images that offer elegant underscores to the subject’s pastoral verse. The film does trust that we share its subject’s passion for nature, but it will win over even those agnostic about the philosophy.‘ Donald Clarke, Irish Times
‘While the gentle, enveloping images of this film slow the heartbeat, the poetry and urgency of the narrative reminds us that some struggles are so continual, so universal, that they are not chosen by us but are a matter of the very meaning of our lives. European Capital of Culture 2020
‘The harsh beauty of the landscape has shaped the people that live here. It has taught them a universal wisdom, a philosophy of life, a spirituality that gives them inner strength.’ The Examiner
