This is an excellent film which really should have a wider audience. I saw it (free) at the 2012 Listowel Writers Week in County Kerry, and the still very rural atmosphere helped me to travel back in time. I really wish the film had been longer as it tries, quite successfully, to set the tenor of the period(the 50s) At that time, Ireland was a priest- ridden impoverished hole. I remember as I was a kid at the time and the level of poverty was terrible. The themes are will drawn. Martin Sheen is a decent actor and they cobble a background to explain his American accent. He makes a fair stab of it but it needs an Irish actor to give it pathos. The film is shot in Fethard in Tipperary and it gives it a realistic setting. Seen through the eyes of a young boy, whose alcoholic father's absence is so poignant, the film possibly should have been more tragic. The priest struggles to give some value to his hopeless life and his nemesis in the Bishop played by the late Tom Hickey reminded me of the marvellous Father Ted series, but only in so far as Fr Ted was completely credible. The Stephen Rae characterl who has political ambitions, is not overplayed, and his opposition to cinematic filth quite credible. He feels the priest naive as he feels he doesn't get'how things really work' and that politics and power require you to sell your soul. He of course has not compunction in the matter. The young and idealistic schoolteacher, whose career is saved by the priest, gaily waltzes off into the future to 'get involved in politics'. This is not so much a narrative as a slice of life from a harsh time. As the priest says 'I thought I would find some meaning here. But its just poor-and damp'

Father Daniel Barry (Martin Sheen) hopes to enlighten the masses by opening a movie theatre. It's a '50s small town Ireland where traditions are still paramount. The bishop is eager to built churches, and he's against the immorality of Hollywood. Money is tight, and the collection plate is light.

Martin Sheen's presence is all that's holding up this movie. Stephen Rea plays the bad guy who opposes the theatre for its immorality. There are a few stories about the townfolks. The characters are all rather meek and the actors relatively pedestrian.

If the movie theatre is the driving force, then its climax is utterly underwhelming. I won't spoil it, but it's not much of a climax. Of all the characters/stories/scenes, the most memorable is the old woman who ask Father Barry to bless her electricity. The questions she asked are so poignant, and Martin Sheen's interaction with her is incredible. If the rest of the movie was just as good, then this would be amazing. But it's not and the movie crawl along to a whisper of an ending.

Just watched this independent film starring Martin Sheen on Netflix disc with my mom. We both pretty much enjoyed this drama about Sheen as a priest finding himself stuck in Ireland instead of going back to Rome when a bishop inquires him about building a new church. In order to get some funds in order, however, Sheen suggests a cinema which meets some opposition from a politician who decries the "American filth" invading the Irish populace during the not-so-modern '50s timeline as the public is also starting to get used to some electric appliances. There's more to this drama but I'll stop there and just say that while I didn't always know what was going on initially, by the end, I think I understood enough. So on that note, Stella Days is recommended.