Alarm
DIR/WRI: Gerard Stembridge • PRO: Anna J. Devlin, Marina Hughes • DOP: Bruno de Keyzer • ED: Mary Finlay • DES: Fiona Daly • CAST: Ruth Bradley, Aidan Turner, Tom Hickey, Owen Roe, Emmet Bergin

In many countries throughout the world a government-funded national cinema has played an important role in the documentation and maintenance of cultural and national identity. Indigenous film programmes from Australia, India, Hong Kong, France and Great Britain, to name a few, have been successful in combating the Hollywood box office and cultural imperialism by producing, distributing and funding their own film projects. The nature of these films depends entirely upon the country of origin. Ireland’s National Cinema was ‘reconstituted’ in 1993 via the Irish Film Board and has produced many profound projects over the years from comedy to historical fiction. RTÉ and the Irish Film Board have now produced a new film, Alarm but, unfortunately, Alarm is not one of these profound projects. While contextually Alarm has a notable message about the current moment in Irish culture, creatively it falls short of Fair City. Students of Irish cinema and culture would be well advised to see this film, but as far as entertainment, Alarm attempts the guise of a thriller while earning audience reactions more akin to a cringe-inducing comedy.

These are environmentally, economically and intellectually troubled times. The trappings of our ultra-convenient industrialized world have become burdensome to our wallets, our homes and our minds, and yet returning to the comfort of simpler times would be, according to history, impossible. Alarm is the story of a Dublin woman who, traumatized by the death of her father, moves out of the city and into a newly-built home located in the surrounding country-side. She refuses the option of an alarm partially because of trauma but also because she believes her new life in the country makes alarms unnecessary. After several break-ins, however, she is convinced by both the local shop owner and her boyfriend to have one installed. But the disturbances do not end as her paranoia increases and her sanity crumbles. 

The small town versus big town conflict is addressed in Alarm as the shop owner complains about companies from Dublin stealing business from the community. The placid landscape juxtaposed against highly congested images of Dublin would suggest the quiet life in rural Ireland promises tranquillity and peace of mind in contrast to the noisy anonymity of the big city. The woman sympathises with the small town mentality by refusing to get a car and by expending great deal of effort befriending the neighbours. None of them seem interested, however, further complicating her growing disillusionment. She longs for a quiet life where the community looks after each other, but she finds herself more isolated than ever.  

A clichéd and sophomoric script combined with poor acting make what could have been an original spin on suburban thrillers cumbersome. While the issues of Irish identity raised by the film are pertinent to the time, the film fails at making a debate-worthy visual text.

Lydia O’Connor
(Read biog here)

Rated 15A (see IFCO website for details)
Alarm is released on 7th November 2008
Alarm – IMDb