Evelyn (2002) - Synopsis
Ireland, 1953. When Desmond Doyle's wife, Charlotte, leaves her family on the day after Christmas, her mother reports the departure to the authorities. The Catholic Church and the Irish courts decide that a 1941 law mandates that the three Doyle children, nine year old Evelyn and her two younger brothers, Maurice and Dermot, be put into Church-run orphanages. During that time Evelyn and her brothers suffer the abuse of living in such orphanages.
Desmond attempts to retrieve the children with the help of the feisty barmaid he has befriended, Bernadette Beattie, and her solicitor brother Michael. When the Church and courts refuse to give the children back, a visiting Irish born lawyer from America, Nick Barron, agrees to help with the case.
Nick drafts his old mentor, Thomas Connolly, a famously colorful retired barrister who relishes the idea of taking on his old foes on the Irish High Court, headed by Senior Counsel Wolfe. Nick also recruits Hugh Cannon, a popular radio broadcaster too take up the cause.
Against all odds, but with the support and encouragement of his fellow countrymen as well as people around the world, Desmond and his legal team do what has never been done before - challenge the constitutionality of a law before the Irish Supreme Court. No one is spared, including little Evelyn, in a final attempt to reverse Ireland's Family Law and reunite a father with his children.
