The Irish Collection

Four films set in Ireland. Alan Parker directs and co-scripts the 1999 screen adaptation of Frank McCourt's best-selling quasi-autobiographical book 'Angela's Ashes'.

Although born in Brooklyn in 1935, Frank and his family soon return to their home town of Limerick in Ireland following the death of his baby sister.

Malachy Senior (Robert Carlyle) has difficulty finding work, and his drinking results in wife Angela (Emily Watson) falling on charity to survive.

Frank loses two more siblings when twin brothers Oliver and Eugene die young, but manages to carve out a life for himself in Limerick, eventually finding work as a coalman's assistant.

However, times continue to be hard, especially after Malachy Senior departs the marital home for good. 'Circle of Friends' (1995), set in 1957 Dublin, is based on the novel by Maeve Binchy.

Childhood friends Benny (Minnie Driver) and Eve (Geraldine O'Rawe) set off from their hometown to attend college in Dublin.

There they meet Nan (Saffron Burrows), who introduces them to Jack (Chris O'Donnell), the college heart-throb rugby star.

Jack and Benny begin a passionate relationship, but an impulsive decision by Nan eventually changes the course of the relationship for good.

Daniel Day-Lewis stars in 'The Boxer' (1997) as ex-IRA member and former boxing champion Danny Flynn, who is released from prison after serving a 14-year sentence and returns to his native Belfast.

There he falls in with his old coach, Ike (Ken Stott), and the pair open a gym together.

Danny meets his old flame, Maggie (Emily Watson), and hopes to rekindle their affair - until he discovers that while he was inside she married his best friend, also an IRA member and now serving time himself.

As Danny and Ike's gym attracts young talent and Danny successfully resurrects his boxing career, pressure from IRA thug Harry (Gerard McSorley), an opponent of the burgeoning peace process, threatens to destroy everything they are working towards. 'Far and Away' (1992) is set in late 19th-century Ireland.

Tom Cruise stars as Joseph Donelly, whose father is shot while protesting high rents.

Joseph determines to take his revenge and sets out to kill the local landlord, only to have his plan foiled when he is caught by the landlord's daughter Shannon (Nicole Kidman).

She is preparing to run away to America - and Joseph, who knows an opportunity when he sees one, decides to tag along as her servant.

When the pair arrive in the New World, Shannon experiences a poverty she never knew existed, and Joseph attempts to make his fortune by getting involved in the world of bare-knuckle boxing.

Things are not going well for either of them, but the chance of better future still beckons, and they head out west, aiming to stake their claim in the wide open spaces of Oklahoma.