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Peggy Ryan plays Eileen, a young lady from the Rogan clan. The family is as Irish as a four leaf clover. She is a lass with lots of heart and spends her days entertaining the younger children with songs and tall tales. The children play on abandoned property that they call Shamrock Hill. The Hill is coveted by a local businessman, Judson (John Litel), who wants to build a TV station on the property. Judson assigns his attorney, Matthews (Rick Vallin) to deal with Eileen and the children.

Eileen's open heart charms Matthews and instead of scaring her off Shamrock Hill, he ends up helping her. Yes, it's all a bit of blarney. The story is simple, yet pleasing. The opening sequence made me smile, when me meet Grandma Rogan (Mary Gordon), and we learn she paints landscapes using only the color green.

When I was a youngster there were plenty of shows and movies where the theme was, "a good heart is better than a fat wallet." That theme holds true for this film.

This is a Canadian documentary on native artist Beau Dick. I have a background in fine arts, so I was interested when I was asked to go see this film. I studied the fine arts in the early 1990's at college and frankly there was little studying of native artists. I had never heard of Dick and after viewing this I wonder how that was possible.

The documentary starts out with Dick at his studio. We see many of his pieces of art and it is undeniable that Dick is prolific and a master of his craft. Little by little, we are shown his native roots. We see that he is an important leader in his community.

Then we see Dick the humanist. I found the strength of the doc to be found in this middle section. We see amazing native ceremonies. Then Dick and other humanists take a massive walk to the British Columbia legislature for the breaking of the copper. Which is a symbolic shaming of the government. They care about the earth, all the animals, all the people, and are concerned about the government gutting environmental protections, and how corrupt corporate concerns are placed above those of the people, the animals, and the land.

The pinnacle of the film for me was an interview with Dick's daughter. The group stand on the legislature's steps and she talks about finding strength in meeting other people who think like her and her father. I was moved to tears because I feel many of us have felt the same way. We watch a society around us that hunts for status through material gain. It appears an unstoppable monster that will ultimately destroy the earth. How can my voice be heard?

My only criticism (and it's a minor one) was the final third of the film where we meet collectors and gallery directors who value Dick's work. I suppose this is to legitimatize his work in the main stream art world. Frankly, I didn't care if some wealthy collector from Vancouver loved Dick's work. Because Dick's importance as a man goes far beyond his art.

The capitalists will point out that Dick is nothing because he had no material wealth. Yet how could you watch this and not see the depth of his character. He has such a rich, fulfilling life. For me he is a wise man, a visionary. The best values that humanity has to offer and we could use many more just like him.

I studied art and painted much of my life. I tracked down every art film I could get my hands on for many years. The copy I saw, I rented from a Blockbuster store on VHS, under the title, Wolf at the Door. The other reviews are correct in that this is visually beautiful. The music is a little heavy handed in places. Sutherland is very believable in the title role. The women are very young and with slender bodies. There is not much to Gauguin to like. He has zero emotional ties to anyone in his life. His return to Paris creates little interest from the art community. And soon he longs to return to a life of ease in Tahiti.

I have read very little on Gauguin and I'm not foolish enough to believe film biographies. So I have nothing to compare this to. This is a very unflattering portrait of Gauguin. One of the girls in the film is very young. A teenager perhaps 16. Gauguin has his deepest relationship with her. She is infatuated with him and wants to be his lover. Gauguin delivers many artsy, lovely speeches in a husky whisper. These imply a sophisticated complex personality. But just what is the film trying to say? I never knew who Gauguin was, other than a man who wanted to return to Tahiti. Strange little film. Certainly worth a look if you don't mind 1980's art house films.