War of the Buttons

I didn't expect much from this film when I rented it. Another Improbable Hero Kid movie?

The fine point of it is: No. If you run screamin' at the mention of Home Alone or Goonies, you needn't be afraid of a movie like this.

The kids impart a genuine, unself-conscious mood to everything in the film, contributing in large part to its subtle and pervasive good humor. I marvelled at the creativity of the Ballydowse kids, and was at the same time satisfied that their rivals were never reduced to mindless obstacles to rouse our sympathy.

As we can see the war from the kids' view, we can see its reflection in their parents, and of course, in adults everywhere. But the film keeps its subtlety here too; we're never beaten over the head with the analogy, but given the right views to delight in it - their creativity and intelligence belongs to all ages.

My one reservation is the soundtrack; it's manipulative and lacks the subtlety of the rest of it.

Three favorite scenes: Little Con breaking his eggs and marooned for a bit with the Carrick boys, the teacher translating Riley's passed note, and the carousal and tractor.

Ireland is developing quite an interesting film industry. In "War of the Buttons", the children from rival towns are always sparring over buttons. They come up with every neat way to get revenge on each other. One of the reasons that this movie was so interesting was because it wasn't one of these situations where against all odds the ragtag team beats the big guys with all the money; in this case, they were equally matched. Also, we get to see how the Irish are trying to revive their culture: the schools are teaching the native Irish language. The only two cast members whom I recognized were Colm Meaney and Milo O'Shea, but the the whole cast did quite well. An excellent movie.

This is a very fun and light-hearted film that is impossible not to like. Based on a French novel that has also been adapted a couple of times in France, the story is transported to Ireland and concerns the rivalry between the kids from two villages. Carrickdowse and Ballydowse are separated by a bridge, and in the evenings after school, mobs of boys meet in the fields and fight each other with sticks and rocks and set new and ever-changing border lines. The 'war' reaches new levels when a new form of trophy-taking comes into play, whereby the groups capture a member from the opposing village and cut off the buttons from his shirts and rip his clothes. In order to fight this war, the Carrickdowse leader Fergus orders his soldiers to assemble all buttons and threads they can find, so that they aren't punished by their parents if they are captured and then return home without any clothes. "War of the Buttons" is something of a family-classic in Ireland these days. Watching it all these years later I can appreciate the fine cast of actors that the film was able to gather. This was by no means a low-budget movie, it's more along the lines of "The Commitments" in terms of the international investment it received than anything else made in Ireland. It was produced by David Puttnam, who had produced a Best Picture Oscar-winner with "Chariots of Fire" in the 80s, and the screenplay was written by Colin Welland, who also won an Oscar for that one. That was quite a considerable pedigree behind it. Amongst the cast there is Liam Cunningham, who was only really starting out on the screen in 1994, and the always solid Colm Meaney. The young cast all did a great job, too, and the cinematography was spot-on in visually reconstructing an Ireland from the 1960s/70s.

I was entranced by this perky, quirky tale. My teenage daughter even more so. A wonderful family film, but a treat for all lovers of anything Irish, regardless of age.

Three scenes in particular were memorable: The "rain" of buttons Marie bestows on the Bally boys in their HQ, the look that passes between Fergus and Marie after the Bally boys successfully routed their "enemies" by charging them sans clothing, and the exchange between Fergus and Geronimo when Geronimo asks why the "war" ever started in the first place.

The youngsters are believable in their portrayals, and the beauty of Ireland was a treat for the eyes.

Wonderful, interesting story of a growing rivalry between young boys in two neighboring Irish small towns. This film is supposed to be based on the book, "La Guerre Des Boutons" by Louis Pergaud. The story, casting, acting and locations were perfect. One strong suit is the beautiful scenery filmed on location in Ireland. I really like this film. It seems few people who reviewed it actually watched it as none of the reviews I read even matched the film's content. I would have liked to have seen the one big battle scene played down as it seemed a bit over the top but other than that this was a pure joy to watch.