St. Patrick: The Irish Legend
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| St. Patrick: The Irish Legend | |
|---|---|
| Written by | Martin Duffy Robert Hughes |
| Directed by | Robert Hughes |
| Starring | Patrick Bergin Malcolm McDowell Alan Bates Susannah York |
| Music by | Inon Zur |
| Country of origin | United Kingdom |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Running time | 92 minutes |
| Production company | FOX Family Channel |
| Original release | |
| Release | 12 March 2000 |
St. Patrick: The Irish Legend is a 2000 television historical drama film about the life of Saint Patrick,[1] the Welsh-born fifth-century saint who brought Christianity to Ireland.
Plot
[edit]![[icon]](/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg){kind=small} | This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2024) |
Cast
[edit]- Patrick Bergin as Saint Patrick
- Malcolm McDowell as Quentin
- Alan Bates as Calpornius, Patrick's father
- Susannah York as Concessa, Patrick's mother
- Luke Griffin as Young Patrick
- Eamonn Owens as Benignus
- Christopher McHallem as Auxilius
- Michael Caven as Iserninus
- Stephen Brennan as Briain
Production
[edit]The film was shot on location in Ireland.[1][2] After reading about the saint, Bergin got into the habit of reciting the prayer "Saint Patrick's Breastplate" every day before filming,[2] and continued this into later life: "if you do the movements for that you are essentially doing a kind of yoga".[3]
Supporting actor Alan Bates was paid £30,000 for two days' work in March 1999; he thought poorly of the film but used his salary to buy a Renault he coveted.[4]
Release
[edit]The film premiered on Fox Family Channel on March 12, 2000.[1]
Reception
[edit]Variety praised Bergin ("though it appears that even he is straining to keep a straight face through some of the more fantastical sequences"), and wrote that McDowell, Bates and York "bring some much-needed dignity to the production". It summed up: "An impressive cast and fabulous locales can’t elevate this well meaning but completely absurd costumer from years of certain servitude in parochial school auditoriums."[1]
Bates's biographer Donald Spoto says, "Drenched in saccharine piety and utterly lacking in historical accuracy, the television movie presented Patrick mostly as a sideshow miracle worker."[4]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Fries, Laura (9 March 2000). "St. Patrick: The Irish Legend". Variety. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
- ^ a b Elias, Justine (12 March 2000). "Beyond the Revelry: The Saintly Life Of Patrick". The New York Times. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ Lynch, Donal (18 September 2017). "The prayers of Saint Patrick". Irish Independent. Retrieved 19 June 2025.
- ^ a b Spoto, Donald (2007). Otherwise Engaged: The Life of Alan Bates. BBC Large Print. pp. 383–384. ISBN 978-1-405-64885-1.
External links
[edit]
 | This article related to historical films is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
- 2000 television films
- 2000 films
- Films based on European myths and legends
- Films set in the 5th century
- British historical films
- 2000s historical films
- Films scored by Inon Zur
- Cultural depictions of Saint Patrick
- 2000s English-language films
- 2000s British films
- Saint Patrick's Day films
- Films about Catholicism
- English-language historical films
- Historical film stubs