Synopsis
The Queen V Patrick O’Donnell reveals on screen for the first time the true story behind one of the most compelling murder plots in Irish history, a thrilling tale of violence, courtroom drama, romance and political intrigue.
Review
On 29th July 1883, Patrick O’Donnell shot dead known informant James Carey on a ship off the coast of South Africa. It was an event that would go down in Irish history as a moment of victory over the British Crown with O’Donnell’s name planted in folklore with songs and ballads recanting his deed thousands of miles from home.
In his documentary, Tomás Seoighe tries to separate the man from myth with his examination into who Patrick O’Donnell actually was and how fate led him to this life-altering moment. Taking a docu-drama approach, Seoighe manages to engage viewers with dramatic reconstructions of the events surrounding the shooting whilst cutting back and forth to various historians and figures of authority on O’Donnell.
The reconstructions are extremely well-executed and succeed in bringing the words of the historians to life as they offer a highly detailed account of not just the incident but the socio-political situation in Ireland at the time.
The film itself doesn’t just look at the life of O’Donnell but of Carey too and manages to convey what their inner thoughts and motivations must have been at the time thanks mainly to the great performances of the two leads (Eoghan Mac Giolla Bhríde as O’Donnell and Stephen Jones as Carey).
The film itself looks great as the dramatic sequences feature some stunning cinematography of the Irish landscape and beyond. The production design is solid too and manages to effectively transport the audience back to the late 1800s. As good as these aspects are, some of the acting outside of the leading performances can be jarring at times. That said, some of the set pieces are well realised by Seoighe.
One particular sequence that stands out is the recreation of the Phoenix Park murders which sets the tale in motion. Seoighe does a fine job slowly racking up the tension before the killings explode in a moment of brutal violence to cap off the scene. However, the finest moment of the film comes with the fatal confrontation between O’Donnell and Carey.
The historical ‘talking heads’ go through the differing accounts of the event from differing accounts of witnesses whilst they are individually recreated on screen allowing the audience to take each moment in and to decide what they believe to be fact or fiction.
On occasion documentaries that feature long spells of historians delving into events such as these can prove to be quite drab affairs but with The Queen V Patrick O’Donnell anecdotes and other minor tidbits of information are injected into the main historical narrative to keep the audience engaged throughout.
One such story surrounding the fate of Carey’s skull after his death is a perfect example of this as it shows how reviled Carey was to the Irish around the world.
Perhaps the crowning achievement of the film is how it tells the story of Patrick O’Donnell straight down the line. It is arguable that his actions were hijacked by the Republican movement at the time but the film doesn’t fall for this Nationalist sentiment.
It tells a very human story of how a simple but not stupid man (as he is described in the film) through a chance encounter murdered another man with no absolute clarity over his motives.
