There are several different exhibitions in the museum but I will limit this review to examining the newest installment:  Kerry Lives 1950-1973: A Portrait of the County from the Kennelly Archives. The exhibition showcases the photography of Pádraig Kennelly (d May 2011) and his wife Joan (d 2007) who between 1952 and 1973 took almost 600,000 pictures detailing Kerry life. The photos in the exhibition are taken from the Kennelly Archive which was recently digitalized and made available online. In 1974 the couple founded Kerry’s Eye newspaper which today is an institution in the county. The main aim of the exhibition is to document a society which was undergoing a transition. The fifties in Ireland is usually imagined as a dank period both economically and politically: it was situated between the high drama of the early years of the state and the economic growth of the 1960s.  The exhibition acknowledges the harsh economic reality of the time but it tries to show the great social change that also took place during this period. The first piece of the exhibition highlights the theme of change:  it is a piece showing the change in the Irish rural economy between the fifties and the seventies.  During this time the Irish rural economy became less diverse, the amount of dairy cattle and sheep rose while numbers of other animals fell sharply. The amount of farms also fell as smaller farms became uneconomical. The amount of labourers also fell as mechanisation reduced demand for manpower. The exhibition explores the successful campaign by the Irish Country Women’s Association to have indoor piped water installed in homes . The ICA campaigned on this issue because it was traditionally the woman’s role to fetch water and portable water would help ease rural women’s workload. Also on the subject of women’s lives of the fifties the exhibition details how women’s participation in the workforce increased by fifty percent during this period and the number of women in county towns outnumbered the number of men due to inward migration from the country.

                Emigration is a central theme of the exhibition many of the photos are from the Yank’s Balls, which were dances held to entertain emigrants who were visiting home for their holidays. Between 1951 and 1971 Kerry lost 22% of the population to emigration. Personally the most touching photo was that of father and his six sons. The caption below explains that all but one had emigrated either to the UK or the USA due to the lack of opportunity at home. The exhibition’s contains a quote by the Bryan MacMahon, a well known author and teacher,  who in a meeting with the Minister of Education,Richard Mulchay,  declared ‘The inheritors of your revolution, Minister, have been rewarded with squalor’. This denunciation crystallizes fully the economic stagnation and dismay which characterised the period.

The exhibition also shows  pictures of the various industries in Tralee most of whom were set up in the sixties when the government of Seán Lemass adopted a policy of encouraging foreign investment and opening up the Irish economy. Such pictures include that of the Liebherr crane plant in Killarney.

                The exhibition also details school life in Kerry during this period. Many of the photos show the dilapidated nature of many of the schools as well as the poverty of many of its students. A series of photos show pictures from the Tralee’s industrial school. In other to put forward a positive image the pictures showed various happy children, it was only decades later the abuse and torture perpetrated in these schools came to light. The disconnect between the positive façade in the photo and what the dqark life which these children led causes the photos to elicit a melancholy response. Staying on the subject of education the exhibition details how the introduction of free secondary education allowed many children to attend and finish secondary school.

                 The Kennelly exhibition is a hugely enjoyable experience especially for those with an interest in twentieth century Irish history. The exhibition reminded me of a module I took during my undergraduate degree. This module was on the economic history of the independent Irish state and the similarity between this exhibition and that course caused me to reflect on how photos can help a student of history gain a greater understanding of the period he/she is examining. The exhibition also confirmed my impression that history books should include much more photos in order to give the reader a better understanding of the time in question. As tablets slowly make physical books obsolete surely publishers could take advantage of the new medium and provide more photos as  cost of ink and special paper would not be present? Indeed history books in the future could include film reels or video recordings from the time. To sum up the Kennelly exhibition is a thought provoking and engaging exhibition which I highly recommend.

                 

The Campaign

                In an election year marked by an intense media frenzy and almost cartoonish candidates (Michelle Bachmann, Rick Perry  etc) it seemed almost inevitable that someone would train a satirical eye on the whole process. The Campaign was writing by Shawn Harwell and Chris Henchy both of whom have collaborated with Will Ferrell previously.  It is directed by Jay Roach who has the Meet the Fockers  and the Austin Powers trilogy on his résumé.

                The film opens with philandering Democrat politician Cam Brady facing an unopposed fifth-term in the House of Representative. The film starts with Cam being prepped on his slogan, ‘America. Jesus. Freedom’. The seasoned politician reveals to his campaign manager, Mitch (Jason Sudeikis), that he has no clue what the three words means and that he merely repeats them at every local event because it keeps the voters happy. This scene underscores the cynical politics which the movie condemns: a politics based on empty and vague slogans, and crass populism. Brady’s comfortable led in the polls is cut after a compromising telephone call to his mistress is exposed. The controversy is a gift to the billionaire Motch brothers who have plans to build factories in North Carolina and import cheap Chinese labour (a concept which they label ‘insourcing’).  Seeing Brady slip in the polls the Motch brothers hatch a plan to enter their own candidate on the Republican ticket who would facilitate their plans. Their candidate of choice is Marty Huggins (Zach Galifianakis) who is the simple and good hearted son of an associate. The Motch brothers choice seems to be build on the assumption that the naive Huggins can be easily manipulated.  Cam responds to this threat to his seat by by launching a smear campaign against his Marty.  Marty reciprocates these tactics under the tutelage of the Motch brothers’ master spin-doctor  Tim Wattley (Dylan McDermott).  This begins a series of tit-for-tat pranks which quickly escalate in terms of outrageousness as is to be expected in a Will Fallel vehicle.

                Political satire is of course plentiful in this film. The parody varies in quality from the clever to the ham-fisted. Cam Brady seems to be based on the disgraced North Carolinian politician John Edwards whose rising star was brought low because of an extra martial affair and financial irregularities.  Cam also bears a resemblance to the broad shouldered and impeccably combed politicians such as Rick Perry and Mitt Romney.  The satire works best when it lampoons the image obsession which exists in American politics. The unfortunate result of this obsession is that the candidates become so staged-managed that true sincerity is impossible. While both major political parties are mentioned the movie is not partisan, the film is not concerned by policy differences between the two parties instead is concerned with the toxic and somewhat bizarre nature of American political culture. The satire falls short in the characterisation of the Motch brothers who are an obvious satire of Koch brothers who have used their vast money to fund conservative political candidates and causes. The Motch brothers are cartoon villains and this prevents them from being compelling characters. However, their presence allows the film to level criticism at the Supreme Court’s Citizen’s United Ruling which allowed rich individuals to channel unlimited funds to campaigns through independent political action committees (also known as Super PACs) and thus distort the political system in their favour.

                Both actors are playing variations of the stock characters for which they are famous: Fallel plays a narcissistic, vainglorious man-child, while Galifianakis plays an oddball. Fallel is playing well in his comfort zone and plays his role with expected precession. Galifianakis’ performance represents a slight variation on his oddball theme: in the Hangover and Between Two Ferns webseries his characters elucidated a slightly menacing air however in The Campaign Galifanakis’ character is oddness is due to his kitsch tastes and his camp mannerisms. These traits as well as making Marty Huggins amusing also help endear him to the audience.

                To sum The Campaign  is an funny and enjoyable way to pass eight five minutes at the cinema or to rent for home consumption but I would not recommend buying as it would quickly go stale after repeat views.. 3/5