Holy Water

Reel DVD Pty Ltd

R4 DVD

I remember fondly a simple Irish comedy called Waking Ned Devine, where a man in a small village has died from shock when he learns he has won the Irish National Lottery. The village must pretend he is still alive as they all need a share of the money. Now we have Holy Water, beginning in a similar little declining village. One of a group of four friends has decided if he is to get anywhere in life he will have to leave the village. There are no job openings in the village and he cannot marry the girl of his dreams without a job. His friends are aghast but can see the problem. Then the Postman finds he will shortly be losing his job and the publican finds he is nearly broke. Suddenly crime looks attractive. They decide they will steal a truck full of Viagra being shipped to the Pfizer drug company’s warehouse nearby. They will then take the drugs to Amsterdam and make their fortunes.

The postman, Podger, devises a plan. Here is the first problem. His knowledge of crime comes from watching James Bond films. Still, with a good plan what could go wrong? The robbery goes ahead with two of the perpetrators disguised as nuns and armed with a wooden gun and they find they now have about eighteen tons of Viagra. Before the truck is broken into its crew manage to activate their tracking device. The four would-be criminals find it and throw it in the river attached to a plastic bag. It will float out to sea.

Then things go wrong. The drug company is irate – the drugs were worth 63 million pounds, not the few thousand that the criminals believed. A two million dollar reward is offered and an American security team arrives to take over the investigation. Because the tracker is heading down the river to the sea they think the drugs may have been hijacked by the Russia mafia. The criminals however are now in danger of being turned in by the townspeople for the reward. Everybody seems now to know who did the heist thanks to the talkative priest. They must dispose of the drugs before they are caught with them.

The drugs are dumped in a small roadside well that is a supposed source of Holy Water since it is blessed by a statue of the Virgin Mary. The spring that feeds the well also feeds the village water supply and Viagra leaks into the town water. Suddenly the whole town turns randy. True Holy Water indeed !

The Americans are sure something odd is going on in the village. So are the local police. The criminals are still desperately worried that they may be turned in. The village is getting a bit of a reputation for “miracle cures” for certain dysfunctions. .

Holy Water is a happy little comedy, not particularly deep but more subtle than most. It is all done in good taste. It is simply loads of fun in a style that we don’t see enough of.

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