A Love Divided

In 1957, a dispute over where two girls were to be educated tore apart a small town in County Wexford, Ireland, and even blossomed into a full-fledged international incident. As one might expect, it was a Catholic-Protestant thing: When Sean and Sheila Cloney married, she, a Protestant, had to sign a church pledge that her children would be brought up Catholic. But as time went on, she came to regret that pledge, not so much because of any flaws in the Catholic school system but more because she didn't want the church telling her what to do. When Sean caved in to the menacing local priest, Sheila fled with the children, and religious violence erupted in the village. The turmoil caught the eye of the media and ultimately prompted Irish prime minister Eamonn DeValera to appeal directly to the pope. It's a hell of a story, especially since it isn't set in the north, where one expects such things. Unfortunately, the film version, directed by Syd Macartney (The Bridge), overplays its hand, with far too much melodramatic shouting from leads Liam Cunningham and Orla Brady, as well as a script that shamelessly delights in pointing out its own subtext. What saves the film from utter forgettability are the strong supporting performances, especially from Peter Caffrey as the town atheist (who fought in the revolution, so he's excused from church), and Tony Doyle (of the Irish TV show Ballykissangel, which also gave us Colin Farrell) and Jim Norton as the feuding local priests.