One Million Dubliners

One Million Dubliners is a poignant and reflective documentary film, thoughtfully directed by Aoife Kelleher in 2014. This cinematic documentary is not just a tale of one city or its inhabitants, but it manages to touch upon universal themes of love, loss, and remembrance that resonate deeply with audiences across the world.

The film's title refers to Glasnevin Cemetery in Dublin, where over one million people – a mixture of well-known figures in Irish history and ordinary inhabitants of the city located across the Irish Sea – have been laid to rest since the establishment's inauguration in 1832. The movie explores the cemetery as a resting place, a tourist attraction, and a symbol of the intimate relationship between the living and the departed.

The documentary paints an atmospheric and engrossing picture of Glasnevin Cemetery, diving deep into its rich cultural history and its continued relevance and significance to present-day Dublin. The graveyard, with its remarkable amalgamation of sumptuous and more humble tombstones, emerges as a character in its own right. The documentary weaves in a remarkable narrative, creating a beautifully evocative portrait of a city in all its diversity.

One Million Dubliners is marked by its carefully curated interviews, some invigorating with humor, others instinctively melancholic, that draw a picture of Dublin's past and present. The interviewees include the passionate funeral director and historian Shane Mac Thomais, gravediggers, families of the departed and the sorrowful, and the visitors who have found in the cemetery a place of solace, mourning, or historical intrigue.

Here, the vibrancy of life and the stony silence of death exist side by side. The film allows the audience to feel the sense of deep personal loss and shared national history through a sensorial exploration of the cemetery – its smell of freshly turned earth, sounds of mourning, and visual arrays of epitaphs and flowers.

One of the central characters in the documentary is the late Shane Mac Thomais, a historian and Glasnevin tour guide. Mac Thomais, who tragically passed away before the film was completed, provided the driving narrative force in the documentary with his infectious passion and captivating storytelling. His pithy wit, exceptional knowledge, and love for the cemetery are palpable through his narratives about its historical figures buried there and the interesting tidbits about its history.

The film is defined by Kelleher's keen eye for detail and the quiet sensitivity with which she approaches her subjects. It's brutally honest yet respectful in its portrayal of how we deal with mortality. There's a balanced mixture of pathos and humor that assist in keeping the documentary from descending into morbidness, ensuring that it remains watchable and engaging. This documentary is unique in that it talks about death in a way that is infused with life and personality.

Visually, this documentary is remarkable, capturing the beauty of the cemetery throughout the changing seasons, creating a tranquil meditative space for the audience. The cinematography does a masterful job in threads through the vast graveyard, revealing the cemetery's distinct sections, from the ornate graves of the rich and famous to the anonymous mass graves of the city's poorest residents.

Moreover, the musical score by Giles Packham complements the visuals beautifully. The music ranges from solemn dirges to contemplative melodies that enhance the serene beauty of the cemetery and accentuate the underlying emotions in the associated stories.

All in all, One Million Dubliners is a thought-provoking, emotionally engrossing, and historically important documentary film. It manages to be respectful while simultaneously uninhibited in its exploration of death and the traditions built around it. With its combination of elements of history, storytelling, and human interest, it is a compelling watch. This film has heart and soul and evokes a strong sense of place and identity.

The documentary leads audiences to reflect on themes such as the inevitability of death, our collective history, the ties that bind us to a certain place, and the stories we leave behind. One Million Dubliners ends up being a vibrant love letter to the city of Dublin and a beautiful exploration of both life and death. The film is a reminder that even in death, we all have a story to tell, an impression to leave, and a history to be part of. One Million Dubliners is not simply a documentary, it's a contemplative revelation on life, death, and the enduring power of storytelling.