Hidden Agenda

This 1990 film directed by Ken Loach takes on a complex political issue: the role of the British in Northern Ireland in the 1980s. There are good performances from many of the actors (including a young Frances McDormand), rousing action, atmospheric cinematography and plenty of local color. 

But the script makes too little effort to tackle the gray areas involved in this conflict. Instead, it chooses a melodramatic story line, with a decidedly "kick out the British" bias. The film barely acknowledges that plenty of people wanted Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom. That was in fact the will of the majority in a referendum held in 1973. 

This could have been a movie that showed how both sides had valid arguments to make, why both factions felt they needed protection from the other, and how that lead to brutal violence on both sides. But too often, the Brits are depicted as evil oppressors, scheming aristocrats who will stop at nothing to hold onto poor little Northern Ireland. McDormand's character, a crusader for civil liberties, seems interested only in documenting the Royal Ulster Constabulary's brutal practices against those who favor the Republican cause. Her virtuous character views Orange Order parades as "frightening... tribal rituals." But those who want the British out are given a much more sympathetic treatment: salt-of-the-earth ordinary folk who simply want freedom and sit crying in smoky clubhouses singing songs of rebellion. 

A more nuanced portrait of both factions was needed, but this film doesn't deliver it. Watch '71 (2014) instead.

Hidden Agenda is available from Netflix and Amazon. 

The Watlington Hoard

Selected items from the Watlington Hoard

Probably buried over 1,000 years ago, this coin hoard was discovered in a farmer's field in Oxfordshire, England. It includes over 180 coins from the reigns of Alfred the Great of Wessex and Ceolwulf II, last king of Mercia, as well as arm rings and ingots. The hoard has the potential to shed new light on the history of the period when Alfred defeated the Vikings and united Wessex and Mercia to form England, according to this article in Coin World magazine (April 27, 2016).