A nice documentary set on the West Ireland ,that pays tribute to a vintage and memorable film , ¨The Quiet man¨ (1953) and one of Ford and Wayne's best , though it has been criticized for its idealized and unrealistic portrayal of Ireland (then the Irish Free State) in the 1920s. Dealing with an enjoyable romance , adding strong knuckles as well as punches for spectacular fight between Wayne -Ford's favourite leading man- against brawling Victor McLagen . It was a special adaptation of 'Taming the shrewd' by William Shakespeare , in which Ford returns to Irishness in an evocative and idealized portrait , paintstakingly constructed , about life at a hamlet named ¨Innesfree¨. While ¨Innisfree¨ documentary is also titled ¨Cosas vistas y oídas en Innisfree y sus alrededores del 5 al 10 de Octubre de 1988¨, here the camera of photographer Gerard Gormezano and director Jose Luis Guerín goes back , almost forty years later, to the same locations where the mythical film of John Ford 'The quiet Man' was shot.
In the documentary there are stock footage from original film starred by Sean Thorton (John Wayne) , an ex-boxer who returns from Pittsburg to the Irish village of his childhood and attempts to take a red-haired lass called Mary Kate (Mauren O'Hara ) as his sweethart , in spite of the objections of her corpulent brother Red Will (Victor McLagen) . Thornton's helped by an alcoholic old man (Barry Fitzgerard who plays the character of the Roman Catholic Michaleen Oge Flynn) , the Protestant vicar Cyril 'Snuffy' Playfair (Arthur Shields) , and the parish priest (War Bond) , among others .
The locality of Innisfree still keeps alive the memory of the shooting among the recent inhabitants and a few survivors , talking and dancing at the Pub , there are even several subtle references to the Irish efforts to win independence from the United Kingdom interspersed throughout the movie . This hight-spirited documentary is one of Jose Luis Guerin's finest movies and with a marvelous fresh-air feeling and full of historical references about Irish people , survivors who saw and participated in the filming , and in the other inhabitants . Concerning about the special way of watching the life of the deep Ireland as well as John Ford wanted to portray and adding the shooting records.
Although made in 1951 ,¨The Quiet man¨ was Republic's first production to be shot outside the United States . ¨The Quiet man¨was the fourth Academy Award for John Ford ,as the story won the International prize of Venice (1952) and Oscar for the best movie and photography to Winton C Hoch and Archie Stout with glamorous and colorful landscapes , though somewhat less deserved Oscar , previously was prized for 'The informer (35)', 'Grapes of wrath (1940)' ,'How green was my valley (41) . It was John Ford's favourite film of his own and he considered it his sexiest picture. While Jose Luis Guerin has made a good documentary bringing to life various scenes from ¨The Quiet Man¨. It won a lot of Awards as Cinema Writers Circle Awards, Spain 1991 Winner CEC Award Best Film ; Fotogramas de Plata 1991 Winner Best Film José Luis Guerín ; Premis de Cinematografia de la Generalitat de Catalunya 1991 Winner Best Cinematography Gerardo Gormezano ; Sant Jordi Awards 1991 Winner Sant Jordi Best Film . Jose Luis Guerin is a fine professional who has directed a few and intelligent films , such as : City life, La academia de las musas, En la ciudad de Sylvia, El espectro de le Thuit. Guerin debuts were short movies and, subsequently, he made notorious documentaries, such as : En construccion, Guest , Dos cartas a Ana and his greatest success was "Innesfree" . Rating : above average 7/10 .Well worth watching. This is a top-notch documentary , but a little boring due to be a movie for aficionados , being extremely necessary to watch first ¨The Quiet Man¨, and after that , to see theis magnificent documentary .
