LAMB

UK, 1986, 119 minutes, Colour.
Liam Neeson, Hugh O’ Conor, Frances Tonti, Ian Bannen.
Directed by Colin Gregg.

Lamb is adapted from a novel by Bernard Mac Laverty (who also wrote the story Cal, filmed with John Lynch and Helen Mirren).

This is a story about the Irish Christian Brothers and their orphanages. It preceded the expose of physical and sexual abuse in the Irish church. However, it gives some indication of what was to come.

Liam Neeson had appeared in Excalibur and was at the beginning of his career (with films at this time like The Mission and The Bounty). He was to go on to international stardom with many films including Schindler’s List and Kinsey. Here he is a naïve Christian Brother, Michael Lamb, Brother Sebastian. He is the Lamb of the title – though a naïve rather than innocent lamb. His father is dying and he takes care of him. The superior of the community, Brother Benedict, played by Ian Bannen, treats him as a rather ignorant and naïve member of the community. When he has compassion for an epileptic boy, he finally takes him away and they go to London as father and son. He is no manager, the money soon runs out, he is fleeced by card-sharps and the boy has more fits and lacks medicine. The story leads to tragedy – with Lamb drowning the boy in the sea but unable to end his own life, sitting on the beach as a figure of pathos.

Hugh O’ Conor as the little boy made his mark and was to appear as the young Christy Brown in My Left Foot, as the king in The Three Musketeers and starring in The Young Poisoner’s Handbook as well as being the priest in Chocolat.

Director Colin Gregg worked mainly in television.

1.The title of the film? The literal reference to Michael Lamb? His characters – lamb-like, in what ways? On the other hand, Owen Kane as the innocent child lamb? The victim?

2.The Irish settings, the bleak aspects, the orphanage, its environment, the sombre building? The Irish countryside? The coast? The beaches? The contrast with England, the details of life in London? The musical score?

3.A portrait of the Irish church, the 1970s and 1980s? The way of life of the Christian Brothers? As looking after boys, orphans? The harsh discipline of the school? The severity of the authorities? The hard life for the brothers themselves? The attention to detail of the brothers’ life and routine?

4.Mrs Kane, her story, unable to cope with Owen, bringing him to Brother Benedict, her personality? Owen’s memories and stories about his mother? Her harshness and cruelty?

5.The contrast with Michael Lamb, his concern about his father, looking after him as he was dying? Michael and the practical concerns at home? His memories of his father, his father’s gentleness – especially towards animals, the rabbits?

6.Life at the school? Brother Benedict as superior? As a character in himself, his severity, his obedience to the rule? His style of authority? His acting in the name of the church? Treatment of the boys? The incident with the graffiti “Benny dies OK”? OK as Owen Kane’s initials – and the irony of Brother Benedict winning: KO? The discipline in the school, Brother Benedict’s attitude towards Sebastian, the rebukes, treating him as a child, orders and authority?

7.Life in the school, the boys, the different characters, their routines? The community of the brothers, the different personalities, interactions?

8.Owen, life in the school, in trouble, the incident of the graffiti? His epileptic fits? His being defended by Brother Sebastian? The pressures, his decision to run away?

9.Brother Sebastian, not reporting Owen? Defending him in time of trouble? Sebastian’s own personal and religious crisis? His decision to run? The details of their journey, travelling as father and son? Sebastian and the compensation in his acting as a father? The travel by ferry, by train? Arriving in London, London as a bewildering city? The lawyer giving Sebastian the money? Going to hotel, not having any understanding of budgeting? The clothes and the treats for Owen? Running out of money, the seedy lodgings, Sebastian going to work as a labourer? The futility of the future together?

10.Owen, his health, the fits, the lack of medicine? The fot at the football match, Sebastian and his anxiety, getting Owen out of the grounds?

11.The picture of the police, the information, the investigations, tracking the couple down, closing in on them?

12.Sebastian’s decision to return, a sense of fatalism, going to the coast, on the beach? Owen and his health – and Sebastian’s decision to sacrifice him, drowning him?

13.Sebastian, Michael Lamb, as a figure of pathos, the meaning of his life, his inability to cope, the compensation in his love for Owen? The police closing in – his future?

14.How well did the film work as drama, as religious melodrama? Human relationships? The church? The Irish tone, the Catholic tone? The drive for identity, for love?