In 1976 the British Government put an end to the special category status of prisoners from the Provisional Irish Republican Army, no longer treating them as prisoners of war, but as common criminals. Mairéad Farrell – on whose life much of the film seems to be loosely based – was the first woman Republican to be refused political status in 1976. By 1980, when the film is set, Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister and doggedly resolute: “There can be no question of political status for someone who is serving a sentence for crime. Crime is crime is crime.” Silent Grace seeks to capture the struggle for the restoration of political status that was at the heart of prison protests in Northern Ireland – not just by the more celebrated male prisoners – but by a smaller number of women prisoners, led by Farrell, at the Armagh Women’s Prison.
Orla Brady
as Eileen
Cathleen Bradley
as Aine Quinn
Conor Mullen
as Cunningham
Cara Seymour
as Margaret
Rob Newman
as Father McGarry
Dawn Bradfield
as Geraldine
Patrick Bergin
as Peter (as Patrick Connolly Bergin)
Michael Liebman
as Warden Mark (as Michael Liebman)
Marc O'Shea
as Kevin Wheelan
Sarah Boyd-Wilson
as Ann Bates
Dean Pritchard
as Patsy
Ita Campbell
as Nuala
