Mrs Robinson

The Plot: This decades-spanning documentary charts the career and life of Mary Robinson. First a constitutional lawyer and then the first female President of Ireland during a time of economic crisis, she came to embody the spirit and need for change for her generation and those generations yet to come. She didn’t stop there though. She was only just beginning…

The Verdict: Early on in the documentary Mrs Robinson, its subject reflects that from a young age she had an inner sense of justice. Looking out from a window on her native Ballina, Mary Robinson dreamed a dream of making life fairer for all, but particularly for women in a then-oppressive and Catholic Church-dominated country. And thus she set out on a path through the turbulent waters of male-dominated politics to effect real, effective and lasting change. It’s a thought-provoking mission statement from Robinson and the fact that she’s still at it at the grand age of 80 is a sign that her heart still beats strong for future generations. It’s fitting then that the lense is turned on her at this moment in time, when the world is an ever more precarious state, to show how politics can be more than just words on an election manifesto. Words alone can be powerful enough to change the world.

One Million Dubliners director Aoife Kelleher has fashioned her documentary Mrs Robinson around the lady herself with not just an Irish perspective but a global one too. This is reflective of Robinson’s international career as an elder stateswoman, stemming from her post-Presidency move towards becoming the UN’s first High Commissioner for Human Rights and subsequent role as Chair of the Elders. It started way back when though studying law in Trinity where she perceived the inferiority of Irish women in the political view and decided to rock the system. Robinson fought for contraceptive rights for families and the constitutional rights of the openly gay David Norris in the European Court of Human Rights. She defied her critics and the patriarchy by becoming President in 1990, a then mostly-ceremonial role which she redefined in her own terms to make it more relevant for Irish people.

It’s certainly a life well-lived, but what’s really impressive about this documentary is how direct and insightful it is. Kelleher doesn’t set out to paint Robinson as a saint. With a keenly Irish sense of keeping her subject in check, Kelleher emphasises not only the many positives that Robinson has effected like building bridges with Northern Ireland and Queen Elizabeth but also pointed out some human errors. Leaving the Presidential office three months early to take up the UN role that almost broke her is one such event, along with misjudged contact with an on-the-run Dubai princess. With humility, Robinson admits these mistakes herself. There are perspectives too from her husband Nick, key figures like Nelson Mandela and Barack Obama and friends like Richard Branson who cheerfully agrees that she must be Irish.

The result is an informative, circular documentary that offers a rounded portrait of a woman who firmly believes in the problem-solving capacity of women on the world stage. There’s much to admire in that need to listen to the next generation of young women who want to effect change for their communities and countries. Much like the light that she left in the window of Áras an Uachtaráin during her Presidency, Mrs Robinson shines a light on its subject with clarity while also being a rallying call for others to keep the light on and pass it on to future generations. Stirring stuff.

Rating: 4 / 5

Review by Gareth O’Connor