“Our sunflower. A treasure beyond words”
Raonaid’s parents Jim and Deirdre Murray.
“Listening for songs the heart was to have sung”
Friends of Raonaid Murray.
“Just like any other teenager she raved about George Michael’s music, kept her favourite teddy bear on her bed, talked of seeing the world, and was frequently five minutes late turning up for her shift at the shop. Raonaid had dreams. She dreamed of being a professional writer someday.” Irish Independent, written by Justine McCarthy, September 11th 1999.
In the early hours of Saturday morning September 4th 1999 in Glenageary, South Dublin, Ireland 17 year old Raonaid Murray, Rainy to those who knew her, was found by her sister and some friends brutally murdered less than 500 metres from her home. To this day her murder remains unsolved and no one has ever been charged. As each year passes her family issues fresh appeals for new information. On this the 20th anniversary of Raoniad’s murder Irish independent film-maker Graham Jones has produced a film, that is so much more than just a documentary, to try to help solve her murder, to help give justice to Roanaid and her loved ones.
Press release Dublin, Ireland – April 24th, 2019:
Award-winning Irish director Graham Jones, who has made several critically-acclaimed indie movies since the nineties such as NOLA AND THE CLONES and HOW TO CHEAT IN THE LEAVING CERTIFICATE, has released a new film called RAINY IN GLENAGEARY.
This latest work from Jones is an unorthodox true crime documentary which explores the unsolved 1999 murder of 17 year old Irish schoolgirl Raonaid Murray – or ‘Rainy’ as some friends called her.
“I count three valid reasons to release this film, ” says Jones. “The first is that it reports a credible allegation Dun Laoghaire Gardaí physically assaulted at least one of Raonaid’s close friends during a regular police interview in 1999, without the slightest provocation and indeed their attitude toward her ‘crew’ in general was so accusatory that several teens just completely clammed up.”
“The second reason is that some of this crew have recently begun re-thinking the events of late 1999 and it seems they do have further information, but after their previous alleged treatment by Gardaí in relation to such a traumatic event were naturally uncertain how to proceed and consented instead to internal audio recordings of their claims for our film’s research.”
“Yet the third and perhaps most compelling reason of all is that, following a number of Raonaid’s crew bravely opening up about such issues, we have evidence strongly suggesting that others vilified them for speaking out – a large red flag to our filmmaking team.”
“Following the release of RAINY IN GLENAGEARY, I will not make any further public comment on either the case or film,” Jones concluded. “But I do wish to concur with the Gardaí’s long held belief that Raonaid Murray was killed by someone she knew and echo her family’s plea for people not to shield a murderer.”
Rainy in Glenageary is brilliantly made, and it should be stressed that it is a non-commercial film distributed exclusively on YouTube. The link can be found at the top this review.
Writer and director Graham Jones did a superb job in bringing together a lot of information and making it coalesce into a coherent film that does not become overwhelming or muddled. Clearly a huge amount of work, coupled with the research by Sorcha Muldoon, was put into the film. However, it never loses sight of the human side of the tragedy, painting a poignant portrait of Raonaid Murray, the person she was, and how loved she was.
The film begins with a haunting scene of the location where Raonaid was murdered and then leads into drawing a picture of the person she was and her life. One reviewer described it perfectly, better than I ever could, as ‘an impressionistic painting.” It feels at times almost like the 1992 animated film of Dylan Thomas’ Under Milk Wood. Not in the look but it does have a similar poetic feel that brings it to mind, with images that linger in the mind long after the film has finished. It seems that this was maybe purposeful because it was among one of Roanaid’s favourite books.
Adopting this approach actually helps put across all the facts more clearly than if it had have just been a straight forward documentary. This style is accentuated by the beautiful narration by Ali Coffey that is never sensationalistic, with the right emotional inflection at any given time, even sounding like she personally knew Raonaid really well. The music by Aileen O’Connor compliments both the visuals and narration perfectly.
The film while being a true crime documentary is also a touching and poignant work of art that is at times a beautiful tribute to Raonaid, reflecting the person she was.
Graham Jones and everyone involved have produced a unique film that transcends being a true crime documentary, becoming a work of art that honours the memory of Raonaid Murray, a young life cut so tragically short.
Rainy in Glenagaery is artistically sublime with a haunting quality. One of the most heartfelt and touching real crime documentaries I have ever seen, an important film that needs to be seen.
The Pain of Loss
by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
There is nothing that can replace the absence of someone dear to us, and one should not even attempt to do so. One must simply hold out and endure it.
At first that sounds very hard, but at the same time it is also a great comfort. For to the extent the emptiness truly remains unfilled one remains connected to the other person through it.
It is wrong to say that God fills the emptiness. God in no way fills it but much more leaves it precisely unfilled and thus helps us preserve—even in pain—the authentic relationship.
Further more, the more beautiful and full the remembrances, the more difficult the separation.
But gratitude transforms the torment of memory into silent joy. One bears what was lovely in the past not as a thorn but as a precious gift deep within, a hidden treasure of which one can always be certain.
MR GEEKY 
Reblogged this on sandrafirstruleoffilmclubharris.
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