Desmond Bell will attend the screening
Frank Ryan’s short life was action-packed and shrouded in mystery and controversy. Born in Limerick in 1902, he was an IRA volunteer in his teens, an irregular in the Civil War, and a dissident republican socialist in 1930s Dublin. In the Spanish Civil War he joined the International Brigades to fight fascism before ending up isolated in wartime Berlin, and died in Dresden in 1944. While historical details remain sketchy, his reputation is further obscured by competing ideological claims. Some see him as an icon; a strong, committed socialist republican, while for others his presence in Nazi Germany brands him as a reactionary who compromised with fascism.
In this richly-textured film portrait, the terminally-ill Ryan looks back on his life and documents it with the assistance of young German radio producer Hans Hartman. Desmond Bell’s film, based on Ryan’s letters, his journalism and the written records and testimony of friends and contemporaries – including the critical probings from his lover, feminist and socialist Rosamund Jacob – weaves together Ryan’s compelling story. The elegant interweaving and integration of drama and archival material which is a signature element in Bell’s documentary practice has here achieved his most accomplished work to date. - Stephanie McBride, Lecturer in Film Studies, DCU