Rosie imitates life

Movie review

We are in a crisis, for so long now that art is imitating life. We have a housing crisis movie. Rosie brought back the distressing feeling I had put aside linked to the impossibility of finding a suitable place to live, so beware.  

Paddy Breathnach takes us for a drive around Dublin with Rosie and her four kids. They are searching for accommodation; at the words “county council credit card”, hotels reject her request of a family room, they are six counting her partner John Paul, who works at a restaurant. We may hear that same exchange of words many times, none of them make the heroine lose her calm or lose our hope.

Roddy Doyle delivers a non-judgemental script that describes the reality of looking for a home in Dublin these days. The story is centred on a family, but there are common places for most of us renters or ex-renters in the Irish capital can relate to. It can sound overly dramatic, but how many times did you see yourself auditioning for an apartment? And right there, when you are sharing the room with 30 other people in a viewing, also getting that dirty look as if you were that actress they think is a few years too old to get the role.  

Cathal Watters gives a beautiful realism to the housing states and the out-of-the-way places where most hotels that would take Rosie’s family in for the night seem to be located. Sarah Greene holds the weight with her magnificent depiction of a mother in challenging times. Her meeting with Ms Hennessy is heart-breaking and the breaking point for a stoic woman that fights to maintain her family routines. She does not live in denial; she does what she is expected to even though her family is missing one basic element: a home.

Kids who can act naturally are hard to come by, however, the children cast are nothing short of talented and believable. The situations are all very familiar, a tantrum because there is no space to move in a car (seriously, there’s no need to be an active child to get freaked out after spending days inside a vehicle), a teen escaping her misery by staying at a friend’s house or an upset child because she is being mocked about her particular circumstances.

Rosie reminds us of the best Ken Loach, the one that makes you uneasy when you leave the cinema and at the same time can marvel you with well-articulated story that is absolutely worthy of your time.

It was not long ago the county councils built houses that until date stand as examples of quality and solid construction, they were for people to live in. The art is imitating life, because life as it is, the housing crisis as it is, has been happening for a few years now. Hopefully we don’t have to wait for a novel to awaken consciences.