The Arts Community here is at its self-congratulatory worst because a locally produced/directed movie (“The Shore” Terry George) won two Oscars in Hollywood. Best “short” movie.

I watched it last night on BBC4. There is something ……almost but not quite…..unique about the Irish “short story”. Interesting to see if the “short movie” is in any way related. The short answer is “NO”. The short story is something about everyday life but speaks to a bigger issue. “The Shore”is really about nothing in particular except showing that Ciaran Hinds and Conleth Hill are superb actors.

The Story……such as it is…..is about a man from Norn Iron returning for a visit to his home place …..the coastal area in County Down……with his American daughter and wistfully looking up and down “The Shore” thinking of his long lost blood brother.

“What happened Dad” says the American daughter.

“Ah The Troubles happened……” says Ciaran Hinds.

Hold it right there. The Troubles happened to us all. I was seventeen when I heard my first gunfire and eighteen when I heard my first car bomb, nineteen when I saw my first gun battle and twenty when I saw my first knee-capping. Like everyone else “I could have been a contender”. Luckily Terry George makes movies….Martin Lynch writes plays…….Michael Stone (!) paints…..and I blog.

While the acting was superb, I cannot see that the short movie was anything other than mediocre. Hinds encouraged by his daughter traces his old blood brother (Conleth Hill) and he finds him with three other unemployed men gathering mussels on “The Shore”. Reasonably enough the two distant strangers are assumed to be “dole inspectors”. And they set off running pursued by a passing horsewoman on a white steed. The joke wears thin when they split up to avoid being caught…….wears thinner as Conleth Hill’s artificial arm galls off………and is in shreds wen he is brought home exhausted on the white horse.

But all is well …..Hinds daughter is introduced as “Patricia” and yes she is named for the long lost blood brother.

And……..then in the dusk…….everyone sits round singing about the Mountains of Mourne sweeping down to the sea.

And that was that. Basically “The Shore” started off wistful and became traditional Oirish whimsy…..superbly acted.