A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE

A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE is well-crafted movie starring veteran British actor Albert Finney as Dublin street car conductor Alfie Byrne, a man with a penchant for Oscar Wilde. Wilde was the nineteenth century Irish playwright and poet noted for his flamboyant homosexuality, and this film, though charming and witty, promotes homosexuality. Alfie Byrne lives with his spinster sister in 1963 Dublin. Alfie quotes Wilde’s poetry to his group of regular passengers, whom he has formed into an amateur theater company. He is a repressed homosexual, confused about his proclivity, but totally naive about the world. His homosexual activities are limited to applying women’s eye makeup in the privacy of his bedroom and exchanging glances with a young man at a pub.

A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE treats Christianity with some scorn. The Catholic Church is stereotyped as ineffectual, uncaring, homophobic, and anti-intellectual. The film’s socially politically-correct message is that homosexuality is an acceptable lifestyle. However, this is not stated overtly until the final 15 minutes, although it does underlie the whole movie. The scenes involving sexual immorality and the homosexual encounter are offensive. Despite its flaws, A MAN OF NO IMPORTANCE is superbly produced and well-acted. Most of the characters are delightfully unsophisticated and true-to-life, and Finney is superb.