Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl

Play trailer Poster for Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl 2005 1h 27m Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
67% Tomatometer 6 Reviews 49% Popcornmeter 500+ Ratings
Members of an Irish town council offer an impoverished woman and her children a new apartment.

Critics Reviews

View All (6) Critics Reviews
Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine It's the complete opposite of Bresson's Mouchette and the Dardennes' Rosetta: a not-so-dense or musky fog that's easily parted and forgotten. Rated: 2/4 Mar 13, 2006 Full Review Anton Bitel Film4 Here gritty realism meets a more poetic symbolism to expose Winnie's marginalised status without ever resorting to sentiment, preaching or indeed clich. Jun 15, 2007 Full Review Brian Gibson Vue Weekly (Edmonton, Alberta) More documentary than drama even as lyric images whisper past . . . slowly burns itself into the memory. Mar 1, 2007 Full Review Matthew Turner ViewLondon Ogden gets impressive performances from his cast, particularly from Winnie, whose sad-eyed little face will stay with you long after you leave the cinema. Rated: 3/5 Apr 8, 2006 Full Review Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat Spirituality & Practice A harrowing film portrait of a ten-year old Irish Traveller whose life is constricted by poverty and prejudice. Rated: 3/5 Mar 29, 2006 Full Review Jon Popick Planet S Magazine Couldn't get into this one. Sep 24, 2005 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (15) audience reviews
Audience Member "Pavee Lackeen" ("traveller girl" in their dialect) is a slice-of-life docudrama that gives an inside view of the Traveller community by following the day-to-day activities of a mostly female family living in a trailer on the outskirts of Dublin, and particularly those of ten-year-old Winnie, who doesn't know much about anything (Russia and "education" have to be explained to her, and she has no idea what year or day she was born, she only knows what month), has trouble fitting in school, and spends her life wandering about, talking to shop owners, occasionally stealing from them, rummaging for clothes in junkyards, fighting with other kids, inhaling intoxicants and fetching water for mum's tea or gas for the power generator. Having already seen the episode of the British documentary series "What Happened Next?" devoted to the traveller community ("They Steal Children, Don't They?"), I already knew much of what "Pavee Lackeen" has to say about the subject. And having seen "Children Underground", I also had a similar but much more powerful documentary to compare it to in terms of emotional impact. But I did find the experience enlightening, and I was impressed by the way the film makes you see the world from the point of view of the travellers. When Winnie looks through a shop window at a woman trying on a wedding dress, what she sees feels about as alien to you as it does to her, like some unreal scene from a fantasy world. I did not find the film depressing, perhaps because apart from the drug sniffing, the kids do not live wholly dysfunctional lives. The mother is a decent person (well, apart from the smoking and drinking), and Winnie has at least integrated the garbled Catholic values of her community, including a healthy fear of hell and sense of modesty and purity. I would rather have grown up in such an environment than be the spoilt kid of some architect of the culture of death like Obama. Moreover, Winnie is tough, curious and resourceful, even though she looks a bit dazed and suffers from exposure to modern cultural trash. You get the feeling that she will make something of her life, just like Winnie the real girl who, after all, has just made an impressive debut as an actress. If you decide to watch this film, I suggest you look for a subtitled copy, because the Irish accent renders much of the dialogue incomprehensible, at least to a foreigner like me. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member A bleak story of "Travellers" lives with a good documentary style which keeps it gritty. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Audience Member had to watch it for class and it was terrible Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member pretty moving account of irish "travellers" a 10 year old girl winnie does not have a lot going for her, shot quasi doco style, v effective. still she is a dirty carnival type. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 02/09/23 Full Review Audience Member A sad and shocking insight into the life of Ireland's Traveller community. The lead female character was so believable I was convinced she was real. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Ostensibly, gritty realism meets a more poetic symbolism to expose Winnie's marginalised status without ever resorting to sentiment, preaching or indeed cliche. But comes across as more faux documentary than real drama. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/25/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Pavee Lackeen: The Traveller Girl

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

Under the City's Skin 87% 84% Under the City's Skin Watchlist The Unknown Woman 67% 79% The Unknown Woman Watchlist Free Radicals 63% 61% Free Radicals Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More

Movie Info

Synopsis Members of an Irish town council offer an impoverished woman and her children a new apartment.
Director
Perry Ogden
Producer
Perry Ogden, Martina Niland
Screenwriter
Perry Ogden, Mark Venner
Genre
Drama
Original Language
English
Release Date (DVD)
Aug 11, 2009
Runtime
1h 27m