Original subtitles

I don't know, Tess.

Don't you say it, Charlie.

Don't you take his name in vain, especially when he's trying to help you.

I don't need no help.

We're almost done around here.

What?

Besides, Tess, I can't afford to pay anybody, let alone a bunch of kids from

Northern Ireland.

It's free.

What's the catch?

Some kind of peace project, and I bet they're all Catholics and Protestants

hate each other.

Right? Things are changing.

There's a new agreement, and there's finally a chance for real and lasting

peace. But these children have never lived in peace, so they won't know how

hold on to it. And you think bringing them all over here to fix up my house is

going to show them?

Well, miracles happen every day.

All you have to do is say yes.

It's a done deal. He'll do it.

It's all working out. I knew it would.

Tess, have you ever felt like the perfect angel at the perfect time for

perfect assignment?

No.

You have to admit, though, that the father made a good match, giving me a

to finally do something for my beloved Ireland.

I've prayed about this for a long time.

Well, it's not going to be easy, baby.

And there's something else you should understand.

It might not even work.

Oh, but Tess, if you knew the people, if you'd ever been there. I've been to

Ireland.

It's very green and they eat a lot of stew.

But I know how special it is to you and so does the father.

So you go ahead and find those children.

The father will show you the right ones and I'll be here cooking.

When you walk down the road,

heavy burden, heavy load, I

will rise and I will walk with you.

I'll walk with you till the sun don't even shine.

Walk with you every time.

I tell you, I'll walk with you.

Walk with you.

Believe me, I'll walk with you.

Tommy Doyle.

That's your name, isn't it?

What if it is?

I'm Monica. I'm with Project Children.

Only Father O'Malley told me about you. We have an appointment this afternoon at

the church.

I'm sorry, I don't think I can make that. Is there life after peace?

That's an interesting question.

Maybe I could help you answer it.

I have to go.

I'll see you this afternoon, then.

I remember Tommy.

I want you to take his mother.

I want you to take his father.

He seems like an angry young man.

He's going to be the hardest one to get.

Aye, but he's the one that they'll follow.

But he's just one leader from one side.

You're going to need two.

I'd like to make it perfectly clear, Monica, that the church stands ready to

help anybody on a mission of peace, you know.

Thank you, Father.

And I have arranged the interviews, but I can't guarantee the results.

Even though we have a peace deal, the Catholic teens here have never known

anything but war and... Persecution.

Naturally, we live in hope of the Good Friday Peace Accord.

The Protestant children still live in dread of the Catholic mob.

That's because they don't know anything different.

But I'm offering them a chance to discover a new way to live.

You feel very strongly about this, don't you, Monica?

I do, Reverend.

It's not me you need to convince.

It's them.

Go to America with a load of prods?

They're not prods. They're Protestant.

And you're a... That's like not a take. And yes, that's exactly what I'm

proposing. Then you must be daft.

They burnt us out of our house.

Laughing while we ran.

We ended up five to a bed in my grandmother's house.

My father still can't get a job.

And we'll never get our own house back.

So it could have pieced me now.

Are you willing to find out?

I'll think about it.

Hey, Reverend.

I saw you were late, Reverend. That meeting just let out.

Mm -hmm.

It'll be a miracle if you can get these two on board.

Monica, this is Angus O 'Neill and Ian Wexley. Hello. Excuse me.

So we're going to America, then?

Perhaps.

Reverend Thompson tells me that you're both members of the Junior Orange Order.

Aye. It's a crucial time for us, Monica, you see.

Well, all this talk about the peace deal, we have to be ready.

Ready for what?

Ready for the whole thing to collapse, of course.

All it's going to take is one bomb.

One stinking IRA murder.

When those dirty tags strike, we are going to be ready.

Dirty tags?

What I'm proposing is that you go to America and work side by side with them.

And eat with them and talk to them.

Do you think you can do that?

I don't walk on the same side of the street with them.

But I would like to go to America.

When I was a kid, my favourite game was playing Riot.

We used tomato ketchup, you know, for the blood.

God help the unpopular boys.

We always made them play the British soldiers.

Just had no idea how fast we'd stop being a game.

See what that scarf is?

UVF?

Ulster Volunteer Force.

Right -wing protestors nabbed me when I was ten in the street and cut me with a

knife. But don't worry, Monica.

The hand still works.

I remember walking home from school one day when I was a little girl.

And my friend started throwing stones at some Catholics.

So I picked up a stone.

I found a really heavy one.

And then I picked out this boy.

I threw it at him.

Hard.

He fell down and looked at me.

I'll never forget that look.

I started crying and I ran all the way home.

I told my mother what happened and you know what?

She was proud of me.

The sad truth is, Maggie, that the children on both sides have done

things and they don't even know why except that they've been taught to hate

other.

So I'm asking.

Do you think you could learn to stop hating?

Rose is a special case.

Very smart. A natural leader.

Oh, good.

I've been looking for a leader.

She should have gone to university, but she was busy taking care of her father

and she failed her A -levels.

Is her father ill?

He's been in a wheelchair for years.

Rose? This is Monica.

Hello. Hello.

How's your father?

He's feeling better today, thank you.

But I'm afraid we had a bit of a row.

He wants me to go to America.

Says he won't eat if I don't, the stubborn old thing.

Your father's stubborn, Monica.

Well, I wouldn't say stubborn, but he's always right.

And in this case, I believe yours is too.

Tommy Doyle?

You're supposed to be over at the church right now, not reading poetry.

You want to go to America?

Read the last part.

Read it out.

Before the kite plunges down into the wood and this line goes useless, take in

your two hands, boys, and feel the strumming, rooted, long -tailed pull of

you were born fit for.

It's not what you were born for.

I'm so tired of that grief, Tommy.

That's why I want you to go to America.

And that's why I handed in my resignation, so to speak.

You resigned from the IRA?

I did.

They won't let you out, Gavin.

How about they did?

Colin O 'Reilly even helped me find a job.

You have a real job?

Over at Gasworks.

Things are changing, little brother.

You're going soft.

Listen, a couple of beggars in suits signed a scrap of paper that says things

will get better, and I want them to.

I'm tired of the blood, Tommy.

And you should be too.

Gavin, I'm not going to... Not another word. I promised Ma and I'd take care of

you.

And I'm going to do it.

You go to America.

You know, they live, the prods and the tanks, together.

And you'll write me some beautiful letters.

You've a touch of the poet in you, so there's no excuse.

I'll write you every day.

Welcome to America.

Here we are.

Andrew has your room assignments, so make sure you leave nothing on the bus,

okay? They sat on opposite sides of the bus the entire way back here.

Oh, my.

Hi, baby. Welcome home.

Oh, yes.

Tess, you know, I really think this is going to work.

Well, baby, getting him here was the easy part.

But getting him to live together is going to be harder.

They're young, and they're smart, and they've so much in common.

Yeah, baby, I see.

They do.

It's all right, honey. Don't be afraid. The bus backfired.

I thought it was a bomb.

It's just snow, but some digestion, honey.

You're safe here.

You are.

Honey's parents were killed by a car bomb last year.

They were on their way to mass.

Are you okay?

No, it's nothing.

Here, let's have a look.

Can I have my hand back?

Rose, are you okay?

Yeah, I'm good.

All right, well, go over there. Maggie's looking for you.

Take care of yours.

And I'm sure we'll take care of ours.

All right? I

can't

believe that policeman let me take his picture at the airport.

Imagine that.

Smiling policeman. Would you take your nose out of that mirror and have him

around you?

They're all swimming pools.

It's not that kind of neighbourhood.

Must be a Catholic street.

Shame on you, Rose Larkin.

You're making eyes at a Catholic boy. I wasn't making eyes.

I don't care if there's a peace treaty.

You still can't trust them.

Well, I'll tell you what.

See if they attack, you stand behind me and I'll throw your camera at them.

Well, something tells me you won't be thrown under the redhead.

What do you mean? For God's sake, Tommy, I've known you for years. Ever since we

were kids, throwing stones at the bloody Brits. So don't tell me you don't fancy

Rose the Redhead.

Do you know what I fancy right now?

What's that?

A wee meal.

Attention. I need everybody's attention.

My name is Tick, and I'm in charge of the community centre.

There will be no smoking, no drinking.

No bad language, no bad attitudes, and no shenanigans.

Is that clear to everybody?

The correct answer is yes, Miss Tess.

Yes, Miss Tess. Good. Now, everybody in the dining room, because the food's

getting cold.

Yes, Miss Tess.

So, just come on in and find your name, have a seat.

I think it would be nice if we could say a blessing every evening and each of

you could take a turn.

Can I start?

Well, wait a minute. Hold on.

I will eat with you, but I'm not going to let you bless my food.

I'm not sitting here waiting for a prayer from a prod.

Not likely we'll be listening to a bunch of Catholic rantings either.

Well, then why don't we skip the blessing you tore in? The food's getting

Then it'll get cold.

We're not skipping the blessing.

I don't think we can expect it.

You must be joking.

Can't we just keep it simple?

Couldn't we just say something grateful without getting all religious on each

other?

Yeah, that's it. Just keep it simple.

Just the basics.

Won't we?

All right, then.

Thank you for the food.

He says you're welcome. Let's eat.

Oh, hello.

Almost my brother. I'd write to him every day.

I made some tea.

Well, are you going to offer me a cup or are you going to throw it over me?

Depends on your attitude.

Depends on my attitude?

Then I wouldn't get a bunch of Protestants and Catholics sitting

together. You're not a woman to be massing with.

That I'm not. You can be sure of that.

Your hands shaking?

I had a bad dream.

Is there any other kind?

So, Tommy, where do you live?

The markets.

You're joking.

I live right across the road up the Ravenhill.

We're neighbours?

How do you know?

I imagine a lot of things.

It's the only way I get by.

Well, then, imagine something.

About what?

Me.

You're terribly full of yourself, aren't you?

Right now I'm only full of one thing.

The sight of the prettiest girl I've ever seen.

Do you believe in love at first sight?

No.

Practical girl.

Irresistible.

A good Protestant girl doesn't fall in love in a day.

But haven't you heard?

We're in America.

And anything can happen.

Happy evening to you.

Now, there's a picture of the future if I ever saw one.

There's no shame in being urban, man.

Not for a pig, no.

Hey, come on. That's enough. That's enough. That's enough.

I can't tell the Catholics from the Protestants. That's not really something

can see.

But that's just a religious war, you know.

It's economic and cultural, too.

Back in Ireland, some people wear different colors to show their

Just like gangs do here?

I suppose so.

Gangs are stupid too.

I'm glad you came.

It can't work, you know.

It always works when two people are in love.

We're not in love.

We're in America.

Everything seems different here.

When we get back, Tommy, there's no hope for two like us.

We're like Romeo and Juliet.

They tried to love each other and they ended up dead.

Shakespeare was a Brit.

You ever hear the Irish version?

It all ends very, very happily, of course.

But the beginning?

The beginning's something quite special.

It begins with a kiss.

Like this.

You were lying in your bed when you were a wee girl, with your pillow over your

head in the middle of the night, trying to stop the sound of the guns and the

screaming mothers and the crying babies.

I wonder to yourself, was there anything, anything at all, that's worth

another day in that hell for?

My father.

My father was paralyzed when I was little.

He's been in a wheelchair for years.

But it's just been so long since anyone helped me.

Tell me about him.

Your dad.

Come on, let's sit down.

It was ten years ago.

At Easter time, there was a riot at Unity Flats.

I remember that.

That wasn't a riot. That was a peaceful demonstration.

No. My father was there. He was a policeman.

He tried to keep order, but somebody threw a bomb and then the people

the police. That's not how it happened.

The police opened fire on the crowd.

That's a lie.

My father was there too.

He led that demonstration.

Your father?

Tommy Doyle?

Dear God in heaven.

You're that doll.

He was in the IRA.

Your dad.

I wouldn't be surprised if he threw the bomb himself.

The one that paralysed my father.

Nobody knows who threw that bomb, Rose.

It was probably the police themselves.

And then they arrest my dad and bogus charges and take him away to prison.

The next time I saw him, my brother was taking him home in a coffin.

So your brother's IRA too?

That was the night he joined, the night they arrested my dad.

He started a riot?

That's not the way I heard it. Well, it's the way it happened. My father

wouldn't lie.

Well, neither would mine.

Your father is a terrorist.

My father was defending himself.

My father was defending his country.

At least you still have a father.

Are you taking a break?

For a bit.

You've been working hard. You deserve it.

I've been thinking about taking a longer break after that.

Maybe going home early.

Why? That Tommy Doyle do something to you? Shut up, Maggie.

I knew that boy'd be trouble.

Maybe you should go home.

You can leave if you feel you must, Rose.

But I believe you came here to accomplish something that you haven't

yet.

I didn't say it would be easy if you came to America and got to know the

you thought were your enemies.

I don't want to know them. I think you already know them. Now comes the hard

part.

Loving them anyway.

Stay away from Rose.

Get out of here, Angus. I don't need any advice from you today, okay?

Aye, well, you see, it's not advice for me.

That's a flat -out threat.

Dirty pig.

Angus, come down here.

I don't believe what I'm seeing.

Thought you might be feeling a bit homesick about now.

I'm doing all right.

And the chance to dance with a beautiful girl wouldn't make a bit of difference,

would it?

I'm not a very good dancer, though.

I'm not asking you to let them see you dance.

I'm asking you to let them see you change.

Come on.

What is it, Tess?

I have some very difficult news.

Something back home?

Yeah.

Tommy, could I speak to you for a minute?

You can talk to me here, Tess.

My friend.

It's your brother, baby.

He's been killed.

Tommy, I'm so sorry.

Tommy?

Nobody murders.

Baby, nobody murdered your brother.

A gas main blew up in the factory where he was working.

An explosion?

You mean like a bomb? Of course it's a bomb. It's Ireland.

I was told it was an accident.

That's the way you always explain the murder of a Catholic, isn't it?

Tommy, please, don't jump to conclusions till we know all the facts.

The fact is, Monica, we all know what happened.

What are you talking about?

Gavin always says they'd get him in the end.

Why? What did he do?

Oh.

Well, now I know what stinks so badly around here.

I've got to find this.

Smells just like the IRA.

It could all happen if the peace treaty came.

And now the prods have broken it? And how many did he kill before he went all

holy? Not enough. Go back to hell where you belong and give my regards to that

brother of his.

Don't touch me.

What's wrong with you?

How can you touch that filthy tag?

I'll go back to bury my brother.

And I'm going to bury you. Stop it.

Stop it.

Stop it. Stop it.

Filthy tag.

Dirty prod.

Kill a Catholic for the queen.

Shoot a Protestant for Holy Mother Church?

For the love of God, please, I beg you to stop it.

Every one of you has lost someone you love, I know that.

A father, a mother, a cousin, a brother.

But the score will never be even.

You'll kill him because he killed her, and then they'll kill you, and it'll go

on and on and on.

For as long as you're keeping the score, as long as you both want to have the

last word, the last word will never be spoken and there will never be peace.

It's easy not to care about the score, Monica, when you're not on the losing

side. At least we know now what side you're on.

Don't we, Monica?

I know what you're thinking, Tommy, but you're wrong. I'm not a Protestant.

And I'm not a Catholic.

On whose side are you on?

I'm on God's side.

That's the problem.

We're all on God's side.

Please. Tommy!

Please come with me.

Please, everyone.

It was an accident.

What do you think your father would say if he saw you hanging about that boy's

neck?

Tommy's just lost his brother.

I don't have an ounce of pity, and neither should you.

I love him, Maggie.

Rose. Rose, Tommy's packing for the funeral.

Tommy's leaving now?

His plane leaves in a couple of hours.

I thought you might want to say goodbye.

He'll be down in a minute.

She has nothing to say to him.

Rose.

Rose.

You're my best friend.

Do you remember when we were little girls?

And we used to try and figure out which was the boy we loved the best.

I could never make up my mind, but you'd always say there's one way to tell.

Ask yourself, would you die for him, Maggie?

Do you remember that?

Well, I'm asking you now, Rose, would you die for him?

Because when your family and your friends turn their backs on you...

You might as well be dead.

God save us all.

Peace is over.

So are we.

What was he like?

Your brother?

He was a great fella.

He was my best friend.

He was all I had left.

Are you ready, Tommy? I was just saying goodbye.

It can be hard to say goodbye to someone that you love.

Sometimes you don't even get a chance to say goodbye at all, huh?

That's true.

You never know when death will come.

Aren't you glad then, Tommy?

That the last words you spoke to your brother were words of love.

How would you know?

Do you believe in angels?

Sure.

And leprechauns.

And we fairies, too.

I'm not speaking of fairy tales.

I'm speaking of messengers from God.

The one true God who made you Tommy and you too, Rose.

The God in whose name too much blood has been shed.

The God who was tired of all of the...

The God who I serve.

I am an angel.

God sends an angel?

To us?

Why, you are a weasel.

Don't be afraid.

God loves you both so much.

But you have to listen.

Can you put away the Catholic words and the Protestant words and listen only to

the word of God?

Why would God send an angel to you?

Because to every generation, the truth is born anew and with it comes the

promise of peace.

This is your time.

This is your chance.

I ask the Father.

I begged the Father for the privilege of sharing this time with you because I

love you too, because I love peace, and because I love Ireland so much.

Angels are not created from human love, but from a simple whisper of the Father.

And when God called me into being,

I lived in eternity in his presence until one day he told me he had work for

to do and it was time to begin it.

And he sat me down on the greenest hill I had ever seen

where the first mists of creation still lingered in the valley

and the oceans crashed against ancient cliffs and

the rich...

Perfume of life itself filled my every breath.

You see, the first steps I ever took were on the soil of Ireland.

It is the first place I ever saw peace on earth.

The peace that was meant to be.

The peace that is meant to stay.

The peace that you are meant to keep.

Tommy, your brother was not murdered. It was an accident.

And the peace there is intact unless someone like you, someone still angry

counting your dead, lashes out in revenge one more time.

Well, then I won't.

Of course I won't.

Good.

But God wants more from you, Tommy.

And you too, Rose.

I know that there is romantic love that you feel for one another.

But there is other love too.

And God is asking you to put that love first.

The love that you share for the country where you both were born.

The love of the peace that you've both been given.

And the love of the people, all your brothers and sisters.

who sit on the same hill and breathe the same air and give thanks to the same

God for making them sons and daughters of Ireland.

If you can do that, if you can put away the pointing of fingers and the

speaking of wickedness and the doing of evil, then God will make you strong and

make your love stronger.

Then you will raise up the broken foundations and be called the repairers

breach, the restorers of the streets where the children of Ireland dwell.

you do it?

The love and the peace that you have found here, will you leave it behind?

Or will you take it home with you?

Gavin loved his country.

He wanted peace in Northern Ireland more than anything.

But he also loved me.

And he wanted me to have a future.

He didn't want me to die for my country.

He wanted me to live for it.

So he sent me to America to see what peace looked like.

And there, there was no barbed wire.

And I saw neighbors of all beliefs and colors sitting down and talking with

other.

And there I was, sitting and talking with Protestants.

I know there'll come a day when I'll see my brother again.

But while I wait for that day,

I see my Protestant and Catholic brothers and sisters every day.

Really see them.

Because I've learned that peace isn't just the absence of war.

It's the presence of God.

One God.

The God of love.

And with that love comes forgiveness.

When I was in America, one of my new friends taught me a song.

Well, not a song, a prayer.

And I hope you'll pray it with me.

For Gavin.

For ourselves.

For Northern Ireland.

Let there be peace on earth and let it

begin with me.

Let there be peace on earth, the peace that was

meant to be.

With God as our father, brothers all

are we.

Let me walk with my brother in perfect harmony.

Let peace begin with me. Let this be the moment

now. With every breath I take, let this

be my solemn vow to take each moment and live.

Let there be peace on earth.