''The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid'' is a 2017

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

directed by Feargal Ward, concerning the legal struggle between a small farmer and the power of international corporations and government institutions.

Premise

Thomas Reid (born 1962) owns a

cattle Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, cloven-hooved, herbivores. They are a prominent modern member of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus ''Bos''. Adult females are referred to as cows and adult mal ...

farm in Blakestown

townland A townland ( ga, baile fearainn; Ulster-Scots: ''toonlann'') is a small geographical division of land, historically and currently used in Ireland and in the Western Isles in Scotland, typically covering . The townland system is of Gaelic origi ...

, west of

Leixlip Leixlip ( or ; , IPA: �lʲeːmʲənˠˈwɾˠad̪ˠaːnʲ is a town in north-east County Kildare, Ireland. Its location on the confluence of the River Liffey and the Rye Water has marked it as a frontier town historically: on the border between ...

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, and right next to

Intel Ireland Intel Ireland's parent company – the giant U.S.-based Intel microprocessor business – is a public company trading on the NASDAQ exchange. Intel decided in 1989 to build its European manufacturing operations in Leixlip, County Kilda ...

's main campus. In 2011,

IDA Ireland Industrial Development Agency (IDA Ireland) ( ga, An Ghníomhaireacht Forbartha Tionscail) is the agency responsible for the attraction and retention of inward foreign direct investment A foreign direct investment (FDI) is an investment in ...

filed for a

compulsory purchase order A compulsory purchase order (CPO; , ) is a legal function in the United Kingdom and Ireland that allows certain bodies to obtain land or property without the consent of the owner. It may be enforced if a proposed development is considered one for p ...

on his farm, with the intention of selling the land to Intel. Reid disputed this in court, saying that CPOs were not intended to be made with the intention of selling property to a specific private company. The case goes to the High Court and

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

, with Reid winning in the end. Interspersed with reconstructions of the court cases are interviews with Reid, who lives alone in Hedsor, an 18th-century farmhouse that has been in the family for over 100 years, and depictions of his life on the farm.

Release

''The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid'' received its world premiere at the 2017

International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam The International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) is the world's largest documentary film festival held annually since 1988 in Amsterdam. Over a period of twelve days, it has screened more than 300 films and sold more than 250,000 tic ...

. It went on release in Ireland on 18 October 2018, and aired on Irish television on 1 July 2019.

Reception

''The Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid'' has a 100% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, based on 7 reviews. ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'' film reviewer Paul Whitington included the documentary among his 20 best films of 2018, while in ''The Herald'', Chris Wasser described it as "one of the most unique and, perhaps, indefinable pieces of cinema this year" and "occasionally, quite wonderful". The film won the George Morrison Feature Documentary Award at the 2018/19

Irish Film and Television Awards Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

, and also won Best Documentary at the 2018

Irish Film Festival London Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

. It was voted Best Irish Film at the 2018

Dublin International Film Festival The Dublin International Film Festival (DIFF; ) is an annual film festival held in Dublin, Ireland, since 2003. History Dublin International Film Festival was established in 2003. It was revived by Michael Dwyer, international film critic and ' ...

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lonely Battle of Thomas Reid 2017 films 2017 documentary films Documentary films about agriculture Documentary films about law Films shot in County Kildare Films shot in Dublin (city) Irish documentary films Films shot in Ireland Reid Thomas 2010s English-language films