Synopsis

After the death of a child in Brooklyn, the McCourt family returns to Limerick, Ireland, hoping for a better life. Instead, young Frank grows up amid hunger, illness, religious strictness, and relentless poverty. As his father struggles with alcoholism and unemployment, Frank finds refuge in storytelling, education, and an increasingly determined dream of returning to America.

Factoids & Trivia

• The film is based on Frank McCourt's 1996 memoir, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography in 1997.

• Production began in September 1998. Although Limerick is the story's central setting, filming also took place in Cork, Dublin, County Wicklow, and County Dublin.

• The family's impoverished street, modeled on Roden Lane in Limerick, was rebuilt on a disused site near Benburb Street in Dublin.

• Interior church scenes were filmed in a Dublin studio after the production was refused permission to shoot inside Limerick churches because of the film's controversial religious content.

• Three different performers play Frank at successive ages, allowing the story to follow his development from early childhood into young adulthood.

• John Williams received Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations for his score. The film also won the Irish Film and Television Award for Best Feature Film.

• Liam Neeson was initially attached to play Malachy, but left the production before filming. Robert Carlyle subsequently took the role.

• McCourt explained that the title originally belonged to a larger autobiographical project that was later divided into two books, with the second volume published as 'Tis.