FREE ON YOUTUBE Stephen Frears - The Snapper (Roddy Doyle)

FREE ON YOUTUBE . Why does The Snapper from Roddy Doyle's trilogy, filmed by Stephen Frears, run free on YouTube? Answer: Because the DVD is sold out in Germany, so no distributor is trying to sell it. And because no Hollywood stars play along. Fortunately! Only Irish stars like Colm Meaney with his cuddly face. And because our colleague David - like every good Irishman - loves Roddy Doyle, I chose parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy, "The Van" and "The Snapper" as YouTube streams. Both are by Stephen Frears, the first part, "The Commitments" is by Alan-Parker. So much for the scientific part. The Snapper is set in fictional Barrytown. This is in the north of Dublin (see also description of The Van). And of life in Barrytown. The Irish there seem to talk more than we "normal" Europeans. They argue just for the sake of arguing (like David when we have breakfast - of course he's never right). Irish are performers. You can see that in our bar. They stage conversations. For whom? For example, the third guest at the bar. This is what The Snapper is about. The people in the film live in narrow houses on a narrow street in a narrow quarter of Dublin. Right at the beginning Sharon Curley (Tina Kellegher), the eldest of eight siblings, discovers that she is pregnant. She tells her parents Dessie (Colm Meaney) and Kay (Ruth McCabe). They talk a lot, but hold to the daughter full of love. That's the way it should be! Dessie reacts like this: 1. stare unbelievingly. 2. roar. 3. philosophize. In the pub. In Barrytown nobody needs a telephone. The gossip spreads much faster without. Soon everybody knows. But a secret remains and that concerns the father of the child... Anyway, all phases of the gossip are discussed. Sharon meets her friends in the pub, where they smoke and giggle and gossip. About men. In another corner Dessie gives out outrageous warnings about the child father. And who is he talking to? (...) That's how The Snapper works; full of warmth and light irony. One of those movies where you feel at home! Just like a pub in Dublin. It's about (Irish) life itself, gossip and gossip and a lot of understanding. And forgiveness. All characters understand human nature itself. Did you notice that Dessie treats his daughter Sharon like a good buddy? He never looks down on her. His house may seem chaotic, but Dessie and his wife are real parents! There's no privacy in the narrow house. That's why they live everything out in public. The family shares everything. All characters have their weaknesses. But only one "ejit" = Irish for idiot brags about it in the pub. And all weaknesses are forgiven. The Snapper is no comedy like others. It's not just about laughs. It's about acceptance. It's about the human in itself.