The telling of The Troubles

December 8, 2010 5:11 PM

Taxi III Stand Up and Cry Like a Man - a short but powerful clip in which taxi drivers talk about their experiences in the Troubles of Northern Ireland.

Lisa Byrne - the filmmaker
Lisa Byrne: profile
The Taxi Trilogy

posted by madamjujujive (9 comments total)

Ack.
Sad to hear all of this crap that these men have had to go through.
But, to end a comment on a happy note--I must say that the Northern Irish accent is so epic.
posted by MHPlost at 5:17 PM on December 8, 2010

That was quite moving and more so because of its simplicity. Maybe if I was Irish I could have guessed each driver's religion, but I couldn't tell watching and that added to the depth. I couldn't choose not to empathize. Reading the description, I appreciated that she profiled both Catholic and Protestant drivers.

Thanks for the excellent post.
posted by serazin at 8:23 PM on December 8, 2010

Terrifying!
posted by DanCall at 12:19 AM on December 9, 2010

I actually do not need an interpreter to understand a Northern Irish accent. I bez I could tell you what religion each guy was, bit that isn't what matters. What matters is that each of these men suffered and what for? Ireland is not better off for their suffering. All of these good men are never going to be the same.
posted by Katjusa Roquette at 1:37 AM on December 9, 2010

Good idea. Taxi drivers were (and are) on the front line of so much of the violence that happened, yet so many forget that.
posted by knapah at 3:33 AM on December 9, 2010

There's an interesting part in Diego Gambetta's Streetwise: How Taxi Drivers Establish Customers' Trustworthiness, which interviewed a bunch of Irish Taxi drivers to try to figure out what signs they picked up on to decide who was going to involve them in something and who was not.
posted by Comrade_robot at 5:14 AM on December 9, 2010

Brilliant.
posted by devious truculent and unreliable at 6:32 AM on December 9, 2010

Powerful stuff, thanks for posting.
posted by otio at 9:07 AM on December 9, 2010

That was great. My mum's cousin William could tell stories about his experiences in a way that always had the whole room laughing until they were tender.
posted by bonobothegreat at 10:27 AM on December 10, 2010