Liam Neeson and director Frank Berry bring Catherine Corless’s campaign exposing the Tuam mother and baby home scandal to the screen in The Lost Children of Tuam, arriving in Irish cinemas this week as forensic archaeologists continue excavating the site where 796 infants are believed interred.
Liam Neeson still remembers his initial shock upon reading a 2017 New York Times article chronicling the work of Catherine Corless, an amateur historian in County Galway. Corless had spent years establishing that 796 children died at the St Mary’s mother and baby home in Tuam, with many interred without record in a disused subterranean septic tank. For Neeson, a former altar boy raised in the Catholic church, the historical account triggered a visceral reaction of embarrassment and an obligation to help bring accountability to light.
That realization led the actor to take on his first producer credit by optioning the article, visiting Corless at her home, and assembling a creative team to adapt the history into a feature film. Written by Rebecca Lenkiewicz and directed by Frank Berry, The Lost Children of Tuam stars Monica Dolan as Corless and Andrew Bennett as her husband, Aidan. The project world-premiered at the Galway Film Fleadh in July, winning best Irish film before heading to the Toronto International Film Festival’s Centerpiece Program.
Catherine Corless and the Fight for the Tuam Babies
Corless began investigating the institution for a local history essay while working as a textile factory secretary. Throughout her research, she encountered repeated resistance from officials and the Bon Secours religious order, which ran the home before its closure in 1961 and subsequent demolition. Despite being fobbed off by authorities who suggested the remains might be famine bones or dismissed her inquiries, she pressed forward.
“The detective work she did to uncover this atrocity involving the relationship between the state and the church was extraordinary.”
Liam Neeson, Producer
Her persistence uncovered that 796 children had died at the home without proper burial records. That archival work catalyzed a judicial commission, state promises of truth and justice, and an ongoing exhumation effort at the 5,000-square-metre site in County Galway. An international team of forensic archaeologists and specialists, working since last year, has recovered skeletal remains of 99 babies and children from the grounds.
Bringing History to the Screen With Monica Dolan
Portraying Corless required English character actress Monica Dolan to navigate a specific regional Irish accent with dialect coaching, despite having Irish parents. Dolan, who is pulling triple duty at Toronto with appearances in John Madden’s Onwards and Sideways and Simon Stone’s Elsinore, spent time visiting Corless’s agricultural holding, meeting her family, and observing her mannerisms during prep.
Corless has praised Dolan’s performance for capturing her cadence and personality accurately. After watching the film across three viewings—including private screenings for family and survivors and its Galway premiere—Corless noted that the production treats a heavy subject with respect and moments of humanity.
“We’re ordinary people. We have a farm. That a film would be made about us, it was out of this world. It’s done with great respect, with the odd little bit of humour in it too, and it just hits people, it hits you hard.”
Catherine Corless, Historian
The film is released in Ireland this week and in the UK next month. As fiction and forensic exhumation run in parallel, the film arrives amid a wider cultural reckoning across Ireland regarding the treatment of women and children in state- and religious-run institutions.
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