Cong: in Innisfree of "The Quiet Man"

For: Javier Reverte (text and photos)
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There are books that mark the landscape of a region or a city, As with La Mancha, caused by Cervantes, with the Dublin, caused by James Joyce. And there are places where it has left its mark a film. So happens, eg. with a small Irish village called Cong, in County Mayo -west of the country-, where almost all were shot outside a mythical movie: "The Quiet Man", the John Ford.

Ford called this village with his real name, but gave it an ideal name: Innisfree. And the term he took from a poem by one of five Nobel Prizes Irish literature: the poet William Buttler Yeats. Everything has a meaning which I will explain.

Yeats created the name from a Gaelic term, «iniss», that can be identified with something like "Irish" and added the "free", that means freedom

Yeats's poem is titled "The Isle of Innisfree.", which is actually a small uninhabited island in a lake, against which the poet loved to go sit and write in solitude. Yeats created the name from a Gaelic term, «iniss», that can be identified with something like "Irish" and added the "free", which means freedom in English. By this he meant to portray the longing for Irish independence against England, as present for centuries in the souls of the inhabitants of the island. «Inisfree» was therefore an ideal rather than a real place.

And Ford wanted to see it the same way. Born in the United States of Irish parents, the great director always kept in her heart the longing for Ireland. And always wanted to pay tribute. "The Quiet Man" was a kind of personal gift to his beloved Ireland and his ancestors. And faith that managed to make, in my opinion, one of the best films in cinema history.

¡Month, that first image Maureen O'Hara tending sheep among pines, with a vibrant red skirt and blue blouse rabid!

«Innisfree, here", says Barry Fitzgerald (Michaleen Flynn) a John Wayne (Sean Thornton) begin shortly after the film, thus opening the door to a story that story is a kind of immortal, in which humor and some drama mixed with a gentle critique of traditional Irish society, and all this time to the unforgettable music Victor Young. ¡Month, the first image Maureen O'Hara (Mary Kate Danagher) tending sheep in the pines, with a vibrant red skirt and blue blouse rabid!…

Cong has become a sort of theme park the movie. Every night in the village pub the traditional ballad "The wild colonial boy" can be heard singing.

I have visited three times Cong, which has become a sort of theme park and film every year visited by thousands of tourists attracted by the myth of the great work of Ford. In the village pub every night you hear singing the traditional ballad «The wild colonial boy».

"Homeric!», Barry Fitzgerald screams when the final punch knocks the big man Wayne Victor MacLaglen (Will Danaher) and out of the bar Pat Cohan breaking the door. Never be both applauded and punched him in the history of cinema.

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Comments (4)

  • Gonzalo Triton

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    Can not wait to read your next book!!!!!!!

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  • Mary

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    Xavier, how wonderful… Your last post I've loved Ireland. It shows you love this country.

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  • Roger

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    Hi Javier, I share your fascination with The Quiet Man, one of the movies that I have made in life. Many years ago I went to Cong and despite the inevitable thrill of Pat Cohan's pub and be in the place where the movie was filmed this I was left with a bittersweet as little more than a pub and the main street there . Despite this it still seems an essential destination for any cinephile loving work of John Ford.

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  • Oscar Durántez

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    Hi Javier, I just read your book on the Yukon River that I liked it as so many I read yours, but, and nephew 'second’ I am the Father Segundo Llorente who was, S.J., remained over 40 years in Alaska, with the Eskimos, expected to see some minimal review even if, in your book 'River of Light'. I, baby, I struggled to pick out in his books which would travel and adventure, discarding the most abundant 'apostolate’ I was not interested (everyone has their own motivations for travel…)-. Sure you have news and information of this but, but, you can find it here, an internet. A cordial saludo, Oscar

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