Danielle Solzman
Rosie takes us through 36 hours of a couple and their children upon becoming homeless and learning how to survive without losing their dignity.
The film starts as Rosie Davis (Sarah Greene) and partner John Paul (Moe Dunford) find themselves in a tricky situation. Kicked out of their home with nowhere to go, Rosie has a list of numbers provided by the Social Welfare Housing list. All she wants is to find a place for her family to stay. This isn’t too much to ask for. The next morning, she must go through the same thing because they can’t stay at the hotel they found for the night. It’s all because their landlord sold the home they were renting.
While Rosie is the heart and soul of the film, she’s also mother to Kayleigh, Millie, Alfie, and Madison. The children range from 4-13 years old. Having such young children shows how dire the situation is. They didn’t ask for any of this. But together, Rosie and John Paul have to figure out how to get through the next several hours while protecting their children. All the while, the children are in school, clothing must be washed, trips to the bathroom, snacks, and even homework must be finished. Without having a stable roof over their head, everything becomes a complicated situation.
It gets worse when Kayleigh is missing in action the following day upon being picked up from school. This is where the children take the brunt of the emotional and psychological toll with everything happening. They find her eventually but it also complicates the search for a room that night.
It’s truly heartbreaking to watch them struggle. No family should ever go through this. Not here. Not anywhere. And yet they persevere to the best of their abilities.
I can’t even begin to imagine the pain and discomfort they’re going through. I’ve had my own share of financial struggles but I’ve never lost the roof over my head. To watch them go through this is terrifying in its own way. Yet these two and their children persevere through it all. All the two of them want to do is protect their family and dignity. Yet it hurts to watch them trying to find a place to stay only to learn that there’s no space for them.
Rosie can be heartbreaking to watch at times but the film captures the reality of what families go through upon losing their homes.
DIRECTOR: Paddy Breathnach
SCREENWRITER: Roddy Doyle
CAST: Sarah Greene, Moe Dunford, Ellie O’Halloran, Ruby Dunne, Darragh McKenzie, and Molly McCann
