CinÉireann / November 2017 23
In Living in a Coded Land, Collins gets political. An ambitious documentary that at 80 minutes is economic in time but not in scale and ambition. No less than a measure of how our psyche was formed around historical trauma which is oft repeated thereafter. We hear talk of 18th century landowners over shots of a county fair adorned with AIB mortgage advertisements. There is mention of battles that took place in our distant past, alongside the battle to try and keep our young people from emigrating.
This is occasionally grim stuff, but Collins is not trying to make us suffer. He is deeply humane, whether talking about us as a people or the land that we are tied to. Again, like Tim Robinson: Connemara there is some stunning archival footage with urban streets an addition to compliment the raw expanse of the Midlands.
Never mind talk of slow cinema, this is just great cinema. Again his burgeoning partnership with O’Sullivan as editor is brought to the fore. They create a wonderful tapestry.
Living in a
Coded La
Living in a Coded Land