Desmond Doyle is devastated when his wife abandons their family on the day after Christmas. His unemployment, and the fact that there is no woman in the house to care for the children—Evelyn, Dermot and Maurice—make it clear to the authorities this is an untenable situation. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide to put the Doyle children into Church-run orphanages.

Pierce Brosnan
as Desmond Doyle

Aidan Quinn
as Nick Barron

Julianna Margulies
as Bernadette Beattie

Stephen Rea
as Michael Beattie

John Lynch
as Senior Counsel Mr. Wolfe

Sophie Vavasseur
as Evelyn Doyle

Alan Bates
as Thomas Connolly

Niall Beagan
as Dermot Doyle

Hugh McDonagh
as Maurice Doyle

Mairead Devlin
as Charlotte Doyle
Peter McGinn
I recently watched this after first seeing it maybe ten years ago. It wasn’t quite as good as I remembered. I mean, I like it okay, but without Pierce Brosnan in it, I am not sure I would have stayed through it. It is a harmless enough story, based on fact, about an Irishman who likes his drink (...