Rent Maeve (1981)

Powerful Realist Drama - Maeve review by GI

A stark social drama set in Northern Ireland at the time of the Troubles and filmed in a realist style that was fashionable in British arthouse cinema in the 80s but has since waned in popularity. It's an enigmatic, almost poetically structured film that follows the trials of a young woman, Maeve (Mary Jackson), who is growing to reject the violent patriarchy of the society she has grown up in dominated by men who control the religious doctrines, the brutality of the British army and their routine sexist controls of the local girls, the police and the paramilitaries who dictate how she should think and feel. Maeve escapes to a life in London but returns to visit her sister and parents and finds little has changed. The film has an episodic structure as it jumps forwards and backwards in recounting Maeve's life. This is a film about sadness and it very effectively highlights the plight of Northern Ireland both politically and in its deprivations. Ultimately this is a feminist themed film and it's a strong one at that. A tragedy that captures strongly the Belfast of the times. This film has been recently restored by the British Film Foundation and it's worth checking out if only to see this style of film and it's realism of a time that shouldn't be forgotten.