The Traveler Girl (Pavee Lackeen) (2005)

Directed by: Perry Ogden | 88 minutes | drama, documentary | Actors: Winnie Maughan, Rose Maughan, Rosie Maughan, Paddy Maughan, Michael Collins, Helen Joyce, Abbie Spallen, Brian Dignam, Jacqui Caulfield, Bonnie OBrien, Oonagh Ryan, Ellish Whelan

Fortunately they still exist. Films that manage to capture ‘normal life’ in a sober, beautiful way. Although ordinary? With reservation, because in this film director Perry Ogden follows a number of so-called ‘travellers’, Irish gypsies, comparable to the Roma family. These travelers lead anything but an ordinary life. We follow smart ten-year-old Winnie Maughan and her mother Rose as they battle local government and prejudice. They are not well off, live with many family members in small caravans in the Dublin harbor area and are threatened with eviction. Because soon there will be construction on the location where they are settled.

Finally, they are tolerated at another location, in even smaller caravans, 200 meters away. And still without being connected to a water supply, so without the promised toilet and shower facility. Despite all the setbacks and prejudices, Winnie tries to make the best of it every day. We see her with older sister Rosie enjoying some chips, cycling through Dublin city on her BMX bike, window shopping or learning new things at the thrift shop, video store or specialist barber shop. A Winnie who is happy with the little things in life. The handy Winnie who pays for her visit to the slot machine hall with a handful of coins from the fountain. But we also see the other side: Winnie fighting four times a week at school because she’s called a slut and slut by other traveler girls. Winnie, who therefore has to have an interview with the director and is once again suspended for a week. Winnie who is caught shoplifting. Winnie visits her older brother in prison. Winnie talking to a child psychologist. Or – secretly – sniffing gasoline.

Meanwhile, her mother Rose, fighting for her family and against an alcohol addiction, is in talks with several authorities, for better housing and for a new school for the girls. The family is on the ground. Winnie and Rosie ingeniously manage to score new clothes from a ‘clothing bank’, a container in which clothes for the poor countries can be dumped. Know that you will always be seen as an outcast, but don’t let it get you down. Living according to the possibilities that life offers, responding inventively to current events. Single mother Rose who even has to pawn her wedding ring to get money for her family: “70 euros for a wedding ring. That’s all that’s left of 25 years of marriage.” Is she allowed to drink too much vodka now and then with friends and laugh and scream at a homemade fire? Of course!

‘The Traveler Girl’ shows in no uncertain terms, without preaching, that we are not all that bad yet. An honest, beautiful and above all lifelike film that makes you think. A film that was rightly showered with prizes at festivals in London, Galway, Mannheim, Venice and Toronto. A special period document, social realism at its best. A movie that wakes you up. An impressive and intelligent piece of craftsmanship.