Jimmy's Hall

During the uncertain times of late 1920's Ireland an arrival from New York upsets the life of a small rural community.

How did he do that? He set up a dance hall, how scandalous. Whilst by and large the locals embraced it and it provided them with a focal point there was opposition. The church led the way, and some local conservatives followed. By branding them as communists provided their arguments with some supposed gravity. What went on in that hall was open for all to see, yet it met with fierce opposition.

The film puts the two worlds into focus. One view is that change is reprehensible, things ought to stay as they are. The opposing view wants change, people to be free from oppression. The newcomer brought some new ideologies as well as lots of controversy.

Both sides are unchangeable in their positions, no one is prepared to backtrack and a clash is unavoidable. Can the idealist modernist challenge the ultra powerful church orthodoxy?

A mighty tale about old and new in the battlefield of ideas.