Stolen
Margo Harkin’s outstanding documentary confronts the horrendous injustices of Ireland’s so-called mother and baby institutions.
Margo Harkin’s documentary film touches the heart and in its closing moments it becomes all the more clear why this film had to be made. It is rooted in events that occurred in Ireland between 1922 and 1998 and which memorably hit the headlines when redevelopment of the site of the former Tuam mother and baby home in County Galway led to the discovery of pits in which some 796 bodies of infants and children had been buried. This was in 2017 but it was only one revelation among many instances of appalling neglect and cruelty perpetuated in other Irish institutions for unmarried mothers and their children, most of them run by Roman Catholic orders. Their activities included arranging for such children to be adopted and often doing so against the wishes of the mother.
Given that the scandal of the Magdalene laundries and the like made worldwide news and even became central to such fine films as The Magdalene Sisters (2002) and Philomena (2013), one is inclined to approach Stolen as old history wondering if it is really in need of further telling despite its horrifying importance. But in the event Stolen totally eliminates any such doubts. Central to it are the stories of individuals deeply affected by what happened. Included here are mothers who were deprived of their children and have felt the loss ever since, in some cases eventually tracing them and being embraced or instead facing rejection. At other times we hear from the children themselves who tell stories of the families who adopted them, both good and bad foster parents, and of their own concerns about their birth mothers. Not once does one feel that the film is obtrusive for all of them speak out with a desire to make known from their own personal experience the consequences and impact of this injustice.
If such testimonies are powerful in themselves, it is also very much the case that Margo Harkin has handled the material both with sensitivity and mastery. In Stolen we have a documentary that has been structured with real care. Thus it is that the individual stories that emerge in the course of the film are chosen for their range and diversity. Furthermore, between times Harkin brings in lawyers, historians and journalists to touch on the earlier history of these institutions, to consider why at the time Irish society was so ready to treat unmarried mothers in this way and to elaborate on how the eventual discovery of what had been covered up led to the issue being officially confronted. As one tale follows another, Harkin also pauses the narrative for readings and recitations by poets relating to the issue and on one occasion even gives us an extract from a directly relevant stage performance. In addition to all that, the material is shaped so that it concentrates initially on the Irish Republic but then in the film’s later stages moves on to deal with comparable examples in Northern Ireland.
Despite all the care taken, I did feel that at 107 minutes Stolen gave the impression of being somewhat longer than was necessary. However, if that is a blemish it is a minor one and the film is nowhere more powerful than in its closing statements. By then we have already heard an archbishop’s apology and about the setting up of a lengthy investigation that eventually reported in 2021. But, as against that, the film reveals the extent to which oral testimony by those most affected was not taken into account in that document. The urgent need for further questioning has become apparent and, with full recognition of the facts still incomplete, Stolen is itself a major contribution in this field and a very moving one too as viewers will discover.
MANSEL STIMPSON
Featuring Catherine Corliss, Catriona Crowe, Sarah Clancy, Alison Lowry, Phil Scraton, Máiréad Enright, Conall Ó Fátharta, Alison O’Reilly, Sarah-Anne Buckley, Anna Corrigan, Colleen Anderson, Terri Harrison, Noelle Brown, Adele Johnston, Michael O’Flaherty, Marian Vale, Marie Arbuckle, Teresa Collins.
Dir Margo Harkin, Pro Margo Harkin and Martha O’Neill, Screenplay Margo Harkin, Ph Colm Hogan, Ed John Murphy and Patrick Hodgins, Music Deirdre Gribben.
Besom Productions/Wildfire Films/Screen Ireland/Northern Ireland Screen-Wildcard Distribution.
107 mins. Ireland. 2023. UK Rel: 3 November 2023. Cert. 12A.
