Hubert Butler Witness To The Future
(Johnny Gogan, 2016, 98mins)
Irish essayist Hubert Butler wrote brilliantly about the inter-war Jewish crisis, exposed the genocide in World War II Yugoslavia and anticipated the re-emergence of these animosities in a future Balkan War. Butler paid a price for these insights in his home country, but was ultimately celebrated as a champion of pluralism. Using recently de-classified documents and events still working their way out in today's international sphere – not least in the rise of populism - this highly visual and expansive film explores why, in the words of Olivia O'Leary, Butler “was fifty years ahead of his time” and, as echoed by Roy Foster and John Banville, “one of the great Irish writers", arguably it’s greatest modern exponent of the essay form.
“In 1952, while attending a lecture in the Rotunda, Dublin, about the persecution of the Catholic Church by the Yugoslav communist regime, essayist and market-gardener Hubert Butler reminded the audience about the Catholic treatment of the Orthodox in Croatia, and the massacre he had recounted in Father Chok and Compulsory Conversion. The papal nuncio walked out, and Butler was soon denounced as a dangerous communist. The apostolic protester would have done well to sit back down, for the erudite Butler had plenty of wisdom to impart. Butler, a translator of Gogol and Chekhov who helped smuggle Jews into Ireland from pre-war Vienna, is finally, deservedly in vogue some 26 years after his death. Johnny Gogan’s thoroughly engaging documentary makes great use of lately declassified documents and location. A parade of compelling contributors – including biographer Robert Toibin and Hubert’s daughter Julia – turn out to be what the Avengers are to the Marvelverse. Marvellous.”
