Ireland. It’s Emerald Isle. Leprechauns, Guinness, and so much more may be found in this land. Throughout the centuries, Ireland has always been the scene for a number of Irish films.
Since Ireland is such an interesting country on the globe, there are numerous Irish movies about it. Whenever writers and directors include Ireland in their films, you believe there will be a compelling tale to be told.
Here are the 20 finest movies set in Ireland in tribute to the country.
20. The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006)
- Director: Ken Loach
- Writer: Paul Laverty
- Cast: Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham, Pádraic Delaney, Orla Fitzgerald
- IMDb rating: 7.5
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 90%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video and iTunes.
This compelling 2006 film tells the story of two fictitious siblings (Cillian Murphy and Pádraic Delaney) who discover themselves battling for independence in the Irish War Of Independence out of English during Ireland’s 1920s War of Independence and subsequent Irish Civil War. And what is most stunning is how the Civil War puts brother versus brother, with opposing views on what their new nation should really be.
19. Brooklyn (2015)
- Director: John Crowley
- Writer: Nick Hornby
- Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Domhnall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, Julie Walters
- IMDb rating: 7.5
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 97%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video, Apple Tv, and Vudu Movies.
It’s weird that a movie named Brooklyn appears on a list of films set in Ireland. However, this 2015 film does so on many occasions.
Ellis, a young Irish girl, is played by Irish actress Saoirse Ronan, who was sent from her tiny village throughout Ireland to Brooklyn, New York, to look for work. This young woman will have to travel to Ireland later when she encounters a prospective soul mate (Domhnall Gleeson). What’s the issue? She’s still in connection with just an Italian-American man in Brooklyn, but she now has to choose between her new and old lives.
18. Michael Collins (1996)
- Director: Neil Jordan
- Writer: Neil Jordan
- Cast: Liam Neeson, Aidan Quinn, Stephen Rea, Alan Rickman, Ian Hart, Julia Roberts
- IMDb rating: 7.1
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 78%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video, Apple Tv, and Vudu Movies.
Unlike The Wind That Shakes the Barley, which depicts the battle for Irish independence from the perspective of a fictitious household, this biography centers on Michael Collins, one of the genuine rebels who spearheaded the conflict (Northern Irish actor Liam Neeson).
This film follows the formation of a nation as it attempts to break free from English authority, from the 1916 Easter Rebellion through Collins’ death.
17. Waking Ned Devine (1998)
- Director: Kirk Jones
- Writer: Kirk Jones
- Cast: Ian Bannen, David Kelly, Fionnula Flanagan, Susan Lynch, James Nesbitt
- IMDb rating: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 84%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video, Hulu Plus, Apple Tv.
Inside this 1998 comic, inhabitants of a small Irish village believe one of them would be a lottery winner, despite the fact that the genuine winner, Ned Devine, perished with astonishment before he could even claim his award.
Because he has no relatives to acquire the money, the locals feel he would need them to split the money and plot to deceive the lottery inspector.
The film, which was shot in the UK entity of the Isle of Man inside the Irish Sea, offers an amusing look at rural life.
16. My Left Foot (1989)
- Director: Jim Sheridan
- Writer: Christy Brown
- Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Ray McAnally, Brenda Fricker, Cyril Cusack, Fiona Shaw.
- IMDb rating: 7.9
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 98%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video.
In this 1989 picture, Day-Lewis, whose dad was Irish and who possesses dual UK-Irish citizenship, plays another real-life Irishman.
It chronicles the life of Christy Brown, a cerebral palsy patient who could only shift his left foot. Brown grew raised in poverty, and his folks suffered even to purchase a wheelchair, although he went on to become a writer and artist.
Despite the fact that we would choose an actor with cerebral palsy to play the part nowadays, Day-Lewis won an Oscar for his portrayal of the character.
15. Ondine( 2009)
- Director: Neil Jordan
- Writer: Neil Jordan
- Cast: Colin Farrell , Alicja Bachleda
- IMDb rating: 6.8
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 70%
- Streaming Platform: HBO Max, Amazon Prime Video, and Vudu.
Selkies emerge again in this eerie 2009 love tale, however this time in a much more mature story that recalls an Irish Splash. Colin Farrell is a fish catcher called Circus who captures a woman named Ondine (Alicja Bachleda) in his trap. However, she could be one of the mystical beings.
Circus connects with his daughter through stories of the selkies while sheltering the lady. Is Ondine, however, who she claims to be?
14. In the Name of the Father (1993)
- Director: Jim Sheridan
- Writer: Gerry Conlon
- Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Emma Thompson, Pete Postlethwaite
- IMDb rating: 8.1
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
Gerry Conlon (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his dad are wrongfully accused of the Guildford Pub explosions in London that killed off-duty British Soldiers, and sentenced to jail in 1974, during the peak of “the Troubles,” a war around whether Northern Ireland should secede from the United Kingdom.
Inspired by a real event, this inspiring 1993 film about Conlon’s quest to establish his and his dad’s sanctity was shortlisted for seven Academy Awards, notably Best Picture.
13. The Quiet Man (1952)
- Director: John Ford
- Writer: Maurice Walsh
- Cast: John Wayne, Maureen O’Hara, Barry Fitzgerald, Ward Bond, Victor McLaglen
- IMDb rating: 7.7
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus, and Paramount+
John Wayne, as well as director John Ford, made a trip from Westerns to make this now-classic 1952 picture, The Quiet Man, which was filmed on location in Ireland rather than on a production backlot.
Wayne portrays an Irish American boxer who travels to his hometown and old family estate, where he finds his romantic lead, portrayed by Maureen O’Hara, an Irish performer.
Even though the film is regarded as essential watching for any fan of Irish cinema history, today’s viewers are likely to encounter clichéd images of the Irish as inebriated and stupid, as well as sexist, as the male characters demand authority over O’Hara’s role.
12. Sing Street (2016)
- Director: John Carney
- Writer: John Carney
- Cast: Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, Lucy Boynton, Maria Doyle Kennedy, Aidan Gillen, Jack Reynor, Kelly Thornton
- IMDb rating: 7.9
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 95%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
This music-filled coming-of-age film from 2016 is guaranteed to have your family moving for a joyful St. Patrick’s Day at-home party.
Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo), the new student at his Dublin Catholic school, aspires to form a band alongside his eclectic group of buddies and romantic interests.
Conor subsequently begins creating his own songs with the support of his elder brother and fantasizes about abandoning his current existence while the band grows in popularity. The heartwarming film will appeal to both children and adults.
11. The Guard (2011)
- Director: John Michael McDonagh
- Writer: John Michael McDonagh
- Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, Liam Cunningham
- IMDb rating: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Instant Video, Google Play, iTunes, and Vudu.
Brendan Gleeson, an unusual small-town Irish constable, teams up with by-the-book American FBI agent Don Cheadle inside this buddy cop movie to discover a drug smuggling conspiracy in this 2011 buddy-cop film.
This witty black comedy, which blends the majesty of the Connemara region with frequently brutal crimes and caustic humor, is not your average Irish movie experience.
10. Once (2007)
- Director: John Carney
- Writer: John Carney
- Cast: Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová
- IMDb rating: 7.8
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 97%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
With the beautiful narrative of Guy and Girl—their true identities are never provided street musician on Dublin’s Grafton Street with his flower-selling sweetheart, this 2007 independent film captivated audiences’ souls and eventually became a Broadway hit.
Glen Hansard, as well as Markéta Irglová, the characters, are a genuine folk-rock duet who also played the tracks in the movie, including the one that “Falling Slowly,” received the Academy Award for Best Original Song.
9. Ryan’s Daughter (1970)
- Director: David Lean
- Writer: Robert Bolt
- Cast: Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Christopher Jones, John Mills, Leo McKern
- IMDb rating: 7.4
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 50%
- Streaming Platform: Google Play, Amazon Instant Video, iTunes, and Vudu.
This beautifully shot picture from 1970 earned an Academy Award for Best Cinematography. It is set in 1917, shortly after Ireland’s Easter Uprising against the British in 1916 and during World War I.
Sarah Miles plays a young Irish teacher who starts a romance with a shell-shocked British soldier (Christopher Jones).
One such sad love tale, guest starring Robert Mitchum and filmed upon that Dingle peninsula off Ireland’s western coast, is based on the classical French book Madame Bovary.
8. Hunger (2008)
- Director: Steve McQueen
- Writer: Steve McQueen, Enda Walsh
- Cast: Michael Fassbender, Liam Cunningham
- IMDb rating: 7.5
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 90%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video and Apple Tv.
Inside this compelling and brutal 2008 movie directed by Steve McQueen as well as featuring Irish-German actor Michael Fassbender, a unique kind of hunger is presented (who, incidentally, thinks he is connected to Irish revolutionary Michael Collins).
Fassbender portrays Bobby Sands, a real-life Revolutionary Irish Republican Army (IRA) inmate who protested cruel jail circumstances by refusing to shower and eventually going on a hunger strike, out of which he perished in 1981.
It’s a stunning picture, but it’s also challenging to see. The starvation strike also was the subject of Helen Mirren’s 1996 film Some Mother’s Son.
7. The Field (1990)
- Director: Jim Sheridan
- Writer: John B. Keane
- Cast: Richard Harris, John Hurt, Sean Bean, Brenda Fricker, Frances Tomelty
- IMDb rating: 7.3
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 47%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video and Vudu.
R. Harris, one among Ireland’s best performers, acts in this 1990 drama about something like a tenant farmer in the 1930s and is about to forfeit the field he’s maintained for generations when the landowner chooses to sell.
It explores issues of kinship and mortality, but Harris’ acting elevates the picture, which is further improved by the quirkiness of the area it shows. Sean Bean plays a supporting role.
6. Grabbers (2012)
- Director: Jon Wright
- Writer: Kevin Lehane
- Cast: Richard Coyle, Ruth Bradley, Russell Tovey
- IMDb rating: 6.2
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 70%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video.
This monstrous comedy from 2012 flirts with the bizarre while simultaneously mocking the cliché of the intoxicated Irishman.
Whenever an Irish town is attacked by peculiar alien beings with massive tentacles, the inhabitants discover that they can stay alive by increasing their blood alcohol content—so they do.
But how will they be able to escape the monsters that menace them completely? This is both ludicrous and ridiculously entertaining.
5. The Butcher Boy (1997)
- Director: Neil Jordan
- Writer: Patrick McCabe
- Cast: Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Eamonn Owens
- IMDb rating: 7.1
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 77%
- Streaming Platform: Apple TV, Vudu Movie & TV Store, VUDU, or Prime Video.
The Butcher Boy is among the best films set in Ireland, and it was also shot in the region where it actually occurs.
The Butcher Child is a film published in the early 1960s that explores the narrative of a 12-year-old lad and his status in his chaotic household. As the kid’s life’s difficulties and misfortunes mount, he starts to run out of control. For a nominal cost, you may lease this film on YouTube as well as Google Play.
The Butcher Boy is based in Clones, a tiny town. Clones, along with Dublin, Monaghan, including Warrenpoint in Northern Ireland, were used as filming locations.
4. The Magdalene Sisters (2002)
- Director: Peter Mullan
- Writer: Peter Mullan
- Cast: Geraldine McEwan, Anne-Marie Duff, Nora Jane Noone, Dorothy Duffy
- IMDb rating: 7.7
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 91%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Video, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Vudu.
Several movies set in Ireland grapple with the Catholic Church’s frequently oppressive presence.
This film is based on the real events of four “fallen” women who are taken to a Magdalene asylum in the 1960s, which were real-life facilities controlled by the church wherein women were compelled to work as launderers and dwell in frequently terrible, violent circumstances.
Although the video concludes on a positive note for some of the ladies, it does deal with some unpleasant topics.
3. Calvary (2014)
- Director: John Michael McDonagh
- Writer: John Michael McDonagh
- Cast: Brendan Gleeson, Chris O’Dowd, Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, Dylan Moran
- IMDb rating: 7.4
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 89%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime Video.
This extremely regarded film from 2014 defies categorization: It’s a murder mystery, a black comedy, as well as a sin and redemption story all rolled into one.
Father James, a “good” priest in a seaside Irish village, is warned at the confessional that he’ll be assassinated in retaliation for the would-be killer’s childhood sexual abuse of some other priest; he gets a week just to get his life back in order.
He continues the week attempting to discover his perspective killer while also assisting his congregation, who all have their personal troubles.
With Kelly Reilly, Aidan Gillen, and Chris O’Dowd, Gleeson meets up with The Guard writer-director John Michael McDonagh.
2. Bloody Sunday (2002)
- Director: Paul Greengrass
- Writer: Paul Greengrass, Don Mullan
- Cast: James Nesbitt, Tim Pigott-Smith, Nicholas Farrell, Gerard McSorley, Kathy Kiera Clarke
- IMDb rating: 7.6
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 92%
- Streaming Platform: Amazon Prime, Paramount +, and Hulu Plus.
The Irish group U2’s song of the same title, which runs out over the closing scene of this 2002 movie produced by Paul Greengrass, might well have made Americans aware of the Bloody Sunday atrocity.
The new documentary chronicles the circumstances leading up to and after the Jan 30, 1972 rally in Northern Ireland, when British forces opened fire on a group, massacring 14 people.
1. The Crying Game (1992)
- Director: Neil Jordan
- Writer: Neil Jordan
- Cast: Stephen Rea, Miranda Richardson, Jaye Davidson, Forest Whitaker
- IMDb rating: 7.2
- Rotten Tomatoes rating: 94%
- Streaming Platform: Netflix and Amazon Prime video.
This Irish thriller from 1992 is notable for its varied cast and treatment of race and sex problems. Even though it broke barriers when it was released, the movie has since spurred more complex discussions regarding its characters’ depictions and transgender portrayal on television.
In the movie, Fergus builds a friendship with Black British captive Jody (Forest Whitaker). Fergus then follows down Jody’s girlfriend (Jaye Davidson), who becomes embroiled in more IRA operations.
