The Culture Nonsense

Last night marked the screening of a film documenting the life and work of acclaimed Belfast born poet Derek Mahon, entitled Derek Mahon: The Poetry Nonsense. In attendance was the poet himself, accompanied by the film's producer and director Roger Greene, who shot the movie over a three month period in 2008 and 2009. Following Mahon as he leads us from his childhood home, on Salisbury Avenue in Belfast, to Dublin and London where he spent his formative years as a writer, and later New York and Kinsale, Greene manages to maintain the delicate balance of illuminating an elusive figure, who shuns publicity and media intrusion, without eradicating the mystery of a life born of a poet's life's work. One of the great failings of modern cinematic storytelling is the homogenisation of a story until we are left with a bland grey pulp. Seen through the lens of Roger Greene, Mahon remains enigmatic and singular.

Though not reticent, Mahon at most offers us a rough sketch, which is flecked with insightful contributions from Seamus Heaney, Michael Longley, Gerald Dawe and Peter Fallon. With a running time of sixty-two minutes it is just long enough to be considered a feature documentary and as I was to discover, beyond the limit that my posterior can comfortably sit still in the J.M. Synge Theatre in The Arts Block of Trinity College, where the screening took place.

From it's opening scene in the Northern Irish seaside town of Portrush through to the cobbled stones of Trinity College's front square The Poetry Nonsense does its work like fine sand paper rather than the revelatory and often damaging hammer and chisel.

Proceeding the film's screening, which was attended by approximately fifty people, the film maker expounded the idea that there is a dearth of informative, intelligent programming shown on the state broadcasters of this island, namely RTE and BBC Northern Ireland. Mr. Greene spoke of the vacuous programming that comprises television schedules and bemoaned the inherent dangers to our cultural identity and the risks posed by the vapid celebrity culture which is now pervasive in our society. If this film is shown on t.v. at all, it is likely to be the subscriber channel BBC 4, he said. If RTE show it, it is likely to be past my bed time.

In a previous post I posited the question: Is RTE a commercial organisation bent on profit-making and personality? Or is it, as the national state broadcaster, a custodian of our cultural heritage? I fear I have my answer.