Film Reviews

Ballymun Lullaby

• Rating:
• Director: Frank Berry
• Starring:
• Details: Ireland / 72mins (G).

Ballymun - you wouldn't go up there at night, would you? You'd do your best to avoid it during the day too, right? Nothing but drug dealers and junkies and menacing teens in hoods knocking about. Berry's documentary is here not only to follow the travails of music teacher Ron Cooney, composer Daragh O'Toole and numerous residents as they put together, with the help of the RTE Concert Orchestra, a "world class" EP of music highlighting life in Ballymun, but also challenging the negative views the public have of the area. Done and done, Frank.
Opening with footage from the 1963 housing protests, director Frank Berry announces the building of the Ballymun flats with a herald of horns. However, the horns hit a bum note as no shops are built in the promised town centre, drugs move in and it's not long before anti-social behaviour takes hold. We all know the story of Ballymun by now, but after this quick intro, Berry wastes no time reiterating what we all know and sidesteps all the nastiness (stopping only to have a go at the media's own nasty portrayal of the area: "Every time the news wanted to show deprivation, they showed Ballymun."), to bring the sweetness and light.
Most of that comes from the beaming smile of Joe Cooney, who has been working in Ballymun as part of its music programme for fifteen years. He sees something more than menace in the kids that hang about on the streets and is determined to unlock their music talents. Two in particular – songwriter Darren Scully and singer Wayne Beatty - find in themselves something they never knew they had. Ron Cooney's unabashed enthusiasm for the project is always ready to lift the documentary and give it life when it threatens to go a little quiet, as although the teens interviewed are happy to be involved and interviewed they are also a little cautious as to how their involvement will be perceived on the streets.
A series of talking heads Ballymun Lullaby may be but Berry has a knack of keeping things moving. Sure, there are static shots of the likes of bus drivers and former resident Glen Hansard, but for the most part Berry shoots his interviewees on the move as they traverse the Ballymun streets.
The music isn't bad either.

Review by Gavin Burke