The Roles of Family and Religion in Motivating Violent Republicanism among Irish Catholics - Essay Example

Differences between religions have a long history of creating conflicts even among members of citizens living within a single geographical region. This situation has various examples, one of the most notable is the division of two sects of Christianity, with one sect having more population over another and causes issues among peoples such as discrimination against the minority group and having unfair representation in congress. In addition, bloody wars ensue as a result of such discriminations, with the minority group taking on the offensive both in the name of nationalism and of religion.

These are former situations in Northern Ireland, wherein the Catholic minority has long aimed to be treated fairly and equally with the Protestant majority, as well as to be properly represented in congress. Two movies, Michael Collins (1996) and Some Mother’s Son (1996) depict such periods when there has been bloodshed due to the differences in religions and this, along with the strength of family bonds and of similar ties fuel a seemingly-unending revolt against the total control of the British Monarchy and gain both independence and recognition.

The movies Michael Collins and Some Mother’s Son both show the troublesome period in Northern Ireland but were set in two different times, with the former having the settings of pre-World War period and without the existence of an independent country of Ireland, and the second movie having settings after the World Wars have ended and that the independent state of Northern Ireland has been established. Both countries portray troubles such as getting recognition and rights independent from the British monarchy, both also shows retaliations of the minorities by taking up of arms, and both movies also tell of the numerous casualties both civilian and militant personnel in the process of obtaining peace.

The two movies, while showing many similarities in some themes with regards to the eruption of violence in Ireland, also show various differences in terms of the strength of religions and families in the perpetuation of violence by and against the republican Catholics. For instance, the movie Some Mother’s Son has an edge over Michael Collins in both family and religious impact on the perpetuation of violent movements due to various differences in how the themes of each movie was delivered.

First is the case of the role of religion, the movie Michael Collins shows religion having a lesser role in showing how it strongly fuels the violence movement, as the movie did not show lengthy religious ceremonies and traditions other than some characters being momentarily shown to be either praying and leaving the church or talking shortly to the priest in the rectory (“Michael”). Such short portrayals imply to the viewers that religion is not a strong theme in the movie, and that it is only one component for the uprisings staged by the minority militant armies.

On the other hand, the role of religion in the continuing power struggles between minority Catholics and majority Protestants were better shown in Some Mother’s Son, as it was able to show lengthy Catholic traditions such as praying the rosary, receiving the Holy Communion, anointing the sick, and holding funeral masses, in addition to the main characters praying individually (“Mother’s Son”). There were also strong implications of discriminations against the Catholic prisoners and to their comrades from militant armies outside prison, as their demands were immediately brushed off by the British control centers without any proper compromises or talks between the two parties.

Lastly, the families of these prisoners do not get much decent treatment from the military either, as they are readily the subject of immediate harassment and of warrantless arrests just because they were Irish and Catholics (“Mother’s Son”). However, the strong role of religion