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REBELLION HAS BEEN pulling in the viewers for RTÉ on Sunday nights since the start of the year.
And while there was always going to be interest in any Irish production going out in what’s now come to be known as the ‘Love/Hate slot’ – the fact that it was the marquee drama of the 1916 centenary meant there was a heightened curiosity factor ahead of the first episode.
Reaction to that debut outing was largely positive – and while many viewers agreed that the drama was holding up last weekend, others took to social media to take issue with the way events were depicted.
Considering that the Rising is of such significance in Irish history, the response comes as no great surprise to the drama’s director.
“All the five episodes are quite different – so reactions might be quite different to three than they were to two,” says Aku Louhimies, who is a highly-regarded director and screenwriter in his native Finland.
This is definitely a period of history in Ireland that people have different emotions about, or strongly disagree over.
Episode two
Much of the commentary in the wake of last Sunday’s episode focused on the killing of James O’Brien, the unarmed RIC officer who was shot by the Irish Citizen Army at the gates of Dublin Castle.
While the drama depicts the policeman refusing several times Captain Seán Connolly’s commands to open the gate, historical accounts describe the events happening much more quickly – with O’Brien being shot as he attempted to close the entrance on the rebels.
In a phone interview with TheJournal.ie, Louhimies says one of his conditions of taking the job was that the events depicted would have to have been historically proven.
I have to trust that it’s accurate script-wise if it’s gone through historians and they’ve said it’s okay to do this way, then I assume it’s right.
That said – the production is a drama, he adds. He doesn’t necessarily entertain every line of criticism he encounters.
There’s some people say – here, Pearse wasn’t that tall. That’s irrelevant… I have to pick the best possible actor for a role.
As far as the events of 1916 are concerned, historians have different interpretations of what happened, he adds.
When it comes to putting together each episode:
We decide in this drama, it’s going to be like this.
Who is Aku Louhimies?
With more than two decades of experience as a director under his belt, Louhimies has helmed everything from documentaries to TV series, along with eight feature films.
He characterises all of his non-documentary work as “drama” he says.
Some lighter, some darker.
His Irish agent, Richard Cook, put him in contact with RTÉ as Rebellion was being planned, he says – and he became involved with the script in the early stages.
While the fact that he was something of an outsider may have had something to do with him getting the job in the first place, the director was familiar with the Rising from his history studies.
Louhimies says his military experience informed his approach to the role (service is a requirement in Finland and the director remains a reserve officer to this day, with a rank of lieutenant).
It’s one of those things when you run around with guns… I don’t want to make killing too much of an entertainment. I would not want to romanticise any kind of violence ever – even though I’m sure it’s necessary sometimes, and sometimes it happens.
Before filming started, he “wanted the actors to shoot with real guns, to understand what it’s like to carry one”.
He also sought to demystify and de-romanticise some aspects of the Rising he says, cautioning:
It doesn’t make the significance of this happening any different.
Viewers of last week’s episode will have noted how characters in Rebellion almost never die as soon as they’re shot – with some lying in the streets for prolonged periods after attacks.
As Louhimies stresses, in real-life people “suffer for days before dying”. It’s all part of the Finn’s effort to prick the romanticisation of the State’s founding event.
The 47-year-old said he would be keen to follow the public reaction here to the final episodes of the drama.
He was also full of praise for the Irish film and TV industry during our interview – and talking in glowing terms about Lenny Abrahamson’s Room, which was nominated for an Oscar this week.
Touching on another minor criticism of the show raised by some viewers, the fact that it was so reliant on Love/Hate for its cast, he said he hadn’t even seen the Dublin crime drama before he took the Rebellion job.
“I didn’t look at their CVs,” he says.
They must have chosen good actors for that show as well.
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Bad week for gorillas
Poor thing :-(
Condolences to Gerry and all the crew in Dublin Zoo. Although some readers may not agree that the Zoo is not the place for an animal; Harry was a much loved and cared for animal and will be missed by all that knew and visited him. RIP Harry
I can understand where people are coming from with their dislike of zoos, however, think of all the species in the world who may already be extinct and nothing known of them if it weren’t for zoos allowing us to see them in real life and watch them interact with each other and have babies and care for their young etc. RIP Harry.
Which species have zoos saved from extinction?
jesus i took pics of him just there on sunday poor thing he seemed in great form on the day
No you didn’t, he wasn’t out all weekend, we were there Sunday for thee meet the keeper with the Gorillas. They explained he was not there, and they were keeping him inside as a precaution. Even the keeper was missing, it was one of the elephants keepers doing the talk
Caught rapid, techguy.
i was there sunday but there was no keeper talking at the time didnt know they had 2 large ones there was only one there when we were there and 3 smaller guys assumed the big one was harry
Tachguy, I thought it was him too until I seen him, beside the females. Just a friendly info before you share the photo as him. Nice day for it Sunday
yea cheers – gorgeous day sunday massive queues too
You should have got his signature.
Rip buddy
This photo is doing the rounds. Very fitting. https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=511889242352289&substory_index=0&id=152480891626461
Gentle Giant :-0
What kind of life had he really? Life in an enclosure constantly being shouted at by tourists banging on the glass looking for him to do something funny for a Facebook post. We are only interested in animals when they can make some money from them.
Not much glass at their current enclosure, they are on an island
In fairness the space they were moved to in recent years was far superior and definitely allowed them more freedom. Zoos are educational and help preserve species which may otherwise have gone extinct, they also allow people to see all of these animals in person and watch how they interact with each other. Obviously the most important thing about zoos is ensuring all of the animals are kept in suitable areas with plenty of room and cared for properly.
Exactly Miriam, if habitats weren’t being destroyed we wouldn’t need zoos, he was a beautiful animal.
Obviously wild life should live in the wild, but mankind have made that impossible.
Poor thing, died of loneliness and boredom
Maybe you should of joined him so…
Loneliness? He lived there with several other gorillas in the troops?
Stephen, while I agree with you the facts are western lowland gorillas can live to 60 in captivity and around 35 in the wild. But it is about quality of life so I’d take living on the wild.
Stephen; how did you manage to get the results of the autopsy before it’s even been done?
Completely agree, I’d never seen an animal so depressed in my life, these animals do not belong in the zoo.
no animal does, horrible place for them to live
Adios Harry.
Free at last.
I didn’t even know he was sick…
Rip ya legend
The Dublin gorilla obviously died of a broken heart after hearing about the American gorilla.
.
(They should round up some Dublin Gangland Thugs and put them in his cage…..
Same Species.)
Troupe.
Oh no, I have tons of photos of him when I took my kids to the zoo, years ago. he loved and hogged all the fruit and bananas, great catcher too.
My condolences to his five emmm is children the word? Or cubs?
RIP
I’m sorry, but it’s his own fault. I’m not going to give in to this sort of emotionalism.
Wrong gorilla
All gorillas are wrong. If they wanted to be right, they wouldn’t be gorillas.
I only saw him three months ago and he looked fine
I told him to stop smoking but wouldn’t listen to me.
People are outraged and rightly so about Gorilla deaths.
Whether from blatant callousness of Zoo keepers in shooting them or from Zoo visitors desire to stop by and stare at them from time to time , this treating animals as curiosities in menageries is deemed more important than their lives.
Harambe being shot,-the incident, which was captured on a cell phone camera, has sparked an outcry of emotion, with thousands of mourners branding it a ‘senseless death’ .Harry in Dublin Zoo led a life imprisoned for profit and human entertainment.
Either way the non humans pay with their lack of freedom even though the people who imprisoned and killed them say they were gentle giants. they were despite being raised in alien prisons and doing the humans wishes. They lose their families and are never free to just ‘be’ in a natural environment.
Zoos are penetentiarys for innocent creatures. Does that matter to those profiting from them….of course not.
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