BALTIMORE (2024)

Genre: Drama
Director: Christine Molloy and Joe Lawlor
Cast: Imogen Poots, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Lewis Brophy, Jack Meade
Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins
Rating: PG13 (Some Coarse Language and Disturbing Scenes)
Released By: Shaw Organisation
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 7 November 2024

Synopsis: BALTIMORE is based on actual events that took place on the 26 April 1974 when Rose Dugdale and three comrades carried out an armed raid on Russborough House, Wicklow, in which 19 masterpieces were stolen in an effort to support the IRA’s armed struggle. The film plays out over the course of the days following the raid, when Rose is in hiding in a remote cottage.

Movie Review:

In order to support the IRA’s armed struggle, heiress turned IRA sympathiser, Bridget Rose Dugdale and her comrades barged into the house of a Lord and swiftly round up 19 art masterpieces including a much sought after Vermeer in one of the largest art heist in history.

On paper, this sounds like an exciting gun toting affair. Besides that, the main character, Rose Dugdale is also a colourful one. A rich Oxford University graduate who also rob her own parents in order to finance her own beliefs and causes. In reality however, Baltimore also known more appropriately as Rose’s War is less of a mainstream effort if you are familiar with the works of Irish filmmakers, Christine Molloy & Joe Lawlor.

For the uninitiated, the Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) motive is to end British rule in Northern Ireland in order to create a united Ireland by using violence. Some labelled them as terrorists while others named them as freedom fighters. But whatever it is, Baltimore is primarily more of a personal account of Dugdale and even so, isn’t a fascinating account of the subject matter.

The drama jumps back and forth in time starting with the heist and taking audiences back to Dugdale’s privileged childhood, her days at Oxford and hiding in a safe house. Since the treatment is not shown in chronological order, it’s hard to keep track of the various happenings or feel emotionally invested with the jarring sequences. Despite the danger on-hand like a shopkeeper getting suspicious of Dugdale, the tension is quickly dissipated with the frequent time jump.

Baltimore deals in a lot of heavy social issues for example wealth, class and social inequality. Relevant themes that make a good story in which this crime drama is especially interested in but however lacks the proper narrative to pull it off. To worsen matters, you are not likely to know more about Rose Dugdale before or after the movie. What is the motivating factor for her to join the IRA? How did an educated, smart lady turns to violence to get what she wants? And who exactly is fellow armed revolutionary Eddie, Rose’s supposedly love interest?

The drama unfortunately leaves you with more questions than ever. Perhaps you need to check out Sean O’Driscoll's biography of Dugdale in order to get a satisfying answer. Still, Imogen Poots deserved much praise portraying the tortured activist. At times intimating, at times vulnerable. Poots is a tour de force though the movie overall could never do justice to her performance. It lacks the narrative and depth to give audiences a full picture of Rose Dugdale, her upbringing, her vision of a better world for her unborn child. Ultimately, it’s largely an unsatisfying affair.

Movie Rating:

(A disappointing artsy treatment of IRA activist Rose Dugdale)

Review by Linus Tee