Saoirse Ronan’s Brooklyn (2015) tells the story of Eilis, a young Irish woman who emigrates to America in the 1950s. The film beautifully captures the emotional complexity of immigration—the opportunity and excitement of the new world alongside the loneliness and alienation of leaving home. Filmed in both Ireland and New York, Brooklyn is part of a broader tradition of Irish emigration films that explore the Irish-American experience and Irish diaspora.
Brooklyn: The Film and Its Story
Brooklyn, adapted from Colm Tóibín’s novel, follows Eilis Lacey from her small Irish town as she emigrates to Brooklyn in the 1950s, finds work, falls in love, builds a life. But when her sister dies and she returns to Ireland, she must choose between the life she’s built in America and the possibility of reconnecting with Irish life and love.
The film is visually gorgeous, using cinematography to establish the emotional texture of Eilis’s experience. The Irish scenes are grey, intimate, small-town—showing what Eilis is leaving. The Brooklyn scenes are vibrant, diverse, chaotic—showing both the opportunity and alienation of immigration.
Saoirse Ronan’s performance is nuanced and moving, capturing Eilis’s complex interior life. The film succeeds because it refuses to sentimentalize immigration—it shows both the genuine opportunity and the real pain of leaving home, family, and culture.
Enniscorthy: Small-Town Ireland
Brooklyn’s Irish scenes were filmed in Enniscorthy, a small town in County Wexford. Enniscorthy is a real working town in southeastern Ireland, a place that provides authentic small-town Irish character without being overwhelmed by tourism.
Enniscorthy has a population of around 10,000 and sits on the River Slaney. The town has historical significance—it was the site of important battles during Irish rebellions. But it’s primarily a working rural town, not a tourist destination.
The film uses Enniscorthy’s actual streets, buildings, and landscape to show the small-town environment Eilis is leaving. The grey weather, the narrow streets, the sense of limited opportunity—these are captured authentically. The town isn’t romanticized. It’s shown as a place with warmth and community but limited horizons.
Visiting Enniscorthy
Enniscorthy is about 2 hours from Dublin by car, making it accessible. The town is close to other Wexford attractions like Tintern Abbey, the Dunbrody Famine Ship, and Waterford. It could be incorporated into a broader southeastern Ireland exploration.
The town itself is unpretentious and relatively quiet. Visiting allows you to walk the streets that appear in Brooklyn, experience the small-town atmosphere, and understand the world Eilis is leaving. The river walk is pleasant, and there are several pubs and restaurants for meals.
Enniscorthy Dunbrody, a replica of the famine ship, sits in nearby Dunbrody Harbour (about 20 minutes south). This provides additional context about Irish emigration history—showing the actual ships that carried Irish people to America during the Famine and subsequent emigration waves.
Brooklyn, New York: The American Dream
The film’s second setting is Brooklyn in the 1950s, the neighborhood where Eilis lives and works. The Brooklyn scenes were filmed in actual New York locations, capturing the energy, diversity, and chaotic beauty of post-war Brooklyn.
Brooklyn in the 1950s was primarily working-class, with large Irish, Italian, and other immigrant communities. The film captures this diversity and the way neighborhoods functioned as ethnic enclaves—areas where immigrants could find community, work, and cultural familiarity while building new lives.
For visitors to New York interested in tracing the film’s locations, various Brooklyn neighborhoods feature in the film. Williamsburg and nearby areas have changed significantly since the 1950s, but the neighborhood structure and some buildings remain recognizable from the film.
Irish Emigration in Film and History
Brooklyn is part of a broader tradition of Irish emigration films exploring the Irish-American experience. This tradition includes several important films:
Angela’s Ashes (1999) follows the memoir by Frank McCourt, showing an Irish boy’s childhood in poverty-stricken Limerick and eventual emigration to America. The film is set primarily in Ireland (Limerick), showing the circumstances that force emigration. The film is darker and grittier than Brooklyn, showing the genuine poverty that motivated emigration.
The Limerick scenes were filmed in the real city, and the film captures the economic desperation that made America seem like genuine escape even with its uncertainties and hardships.
In America (2002) tells the story of an Irish family emigrating to New York after personal tragedy in Ireland. The film captures the cultural and economic shock of leaving Ireland for America, the family’s struggles to build new life, and the way immigration creates both opportunity and displacement.
The film was written and directed by Jim Sheridan, an Irish filmmaker known for examining Irish identity and Irish-American experience. The film’s New York scenes capture the city as both welcoming and alienating.
The Field (1990), while not strictly an emigration film, deals with Irish land, economic pressure, and the background against which emigration occurred. The film shows Irish rural life’s hardships and the desperation that made America attractive.
Far and Away (1992) is a more romanticized emigration story, showing Irish characters traveling to America during the land rush era. The film is more adventurous and romantic than realistic, but it deals with Irish emigration themes.
The Broader Irish-American Experience
These films represent important moments in Irish-American cinema and storytelling. They explore:
- The decision to emigrate (what circumstances force this decision?)
- The journey itself (dangerous, uncertain, final)
- Arrival in America (shock, opportunity, alienation)
- Building new life (work, community, relationships)
- Maintaining cultural identity in new context
- The experience of being immigrant and “other”
- Connections to homeland (letters, return visits, memory)
Irish emigration is historically massive. Between 1845 and 1855 (the Famine era), approximately 1.5 million Irish emigrated, primarily to America. The broader nineteenth and twentieth centuries saw continued Irish emigration.
By the early twentieth century, Irish-Americans had become a significant political and cultural force in America. But the experience of being Irish and Irish-American involved navigating cultural identity, economic integration, and the gap between Ireland and Irish-America.
Visiting Emigration Locations
For those interested in Irish emigration history and cinema:
Enniscorthy and Wexford: Visit the Dunbrody Famine Ship, explore small-town Irish life, understand the circumstances of emigration.
Dublin: Visit Kilmainham Gaol, which housed political prisoners and provides context for why emigration was appealing.
Cork: Another emigration port with significant history.
Limerick: Visit Frank McCourt Museum and explore the city shown in Angela’s Ashes.
New York: Visit Ellis Island (the immigration gateway), explore Irish-American neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan, understand where Irish immigrants settled and built communities.
This kind of pilgrimage connects film locations to historical reality and personal story.
Understanding Irish-American Identity
These emigration films matter because they explore identity formation. What does it mean to be Irish-American? How do immigrants maintain cultural identity while integrating into new culture? How do subsequent generations relate to ancestral homeland?
Saoirse Ronan, the star of Brooklyn, is herself Irish-American (born in New York to Irish parents, raised primarily in Ireland). Her casting provides additional resonance—she embodies the complicated identity these films explore.
For many Americans of Irish descent, these films provide narrative structure for understanding their family histories. Relatives emigrated from Ireland to America. Films like Brooklyn help understand that decision—the loss, the opportunity, the emotional complexity.
Practical Planning for Emigration Cinema Pilgrimage
A comprehensive emigration cinema pilgrimage would involve:
Ireland:
United States:
This kind of pilgrimage combines film locations with historical education and personal family history connection.
The Emotional Core
What unites these emigration films is recognition of emigration as fundamentally emotional experience. It’s not just economic decision or adventure—it’s leaving home, family, culture, and building new life in uncertain circumstances.
Brooklyn captures this particularly well through Eilis’s emotional journey. The film doesn’t celebrate or condemn emigration—it shows it as complex human experience involving both genuine opportunity and real loss.
Conclusion: Brooklyn and Irish Emigration Cinema
Brooklyn is a beautiful film that rewards multiple viewings and deepens when you understand its context within broader Irish emigration cinema tradition. The film’s Irish setting in Enniscorthy provides authentic small-town Irish character. The New York setting captures American urban immigrant experience.
Whether you’re Irish-American exploring family history, interested in immigration cinema, or simply appreciate beautiful filmmaking, Brooklyn and related films offer rich material for engagement.
Plan a trip incorporating Irish emigration sites (Enniscorthy, Dunbrody, Cork, Limerick) with American immigrant history (Ellis Island, New York neighborhoods). Watch the films before and after your travels. You’ll develop deeper understanding of both Irish and Irish-American history and experience, and you’ll appreciate the films’ achievements in capturing complex emotional terrain.
These films matter because they honor immigrant experience—recognizing both the genuine courage and determination required to emigrate and the real losses involved in leaving home. They help subsequent generations understand their family histories and the Irish-American identity their ancestors created in new circumstances.
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