Buried Alive (Beo Faoin Bhfód)

In 1968, Mick Meaney was buried six feet under the London soil in a simple wooden coffin. Hundreds came to see his burial and toast Mick on his way. The thing was, Mick was not dead. He was competing in the world record competition for ‘Longest Time Spent Buried Alive’.

Incredibly, Mick was not the first. This story begins in 1920s California and ends with a Dutch nun buried under a fairground in Skegness. Using never before seen archive, animation and interviews with the people who personally knew Mick, this story is brought to life through the eyes of his loving daughter who grapples with her father’s bizarre legacy.

Equally fascinating in this doco is the light that it sheds on the lives of Irish navvies in London at this time. The poverty which prompted an uneducated young man to to risk life and limb in order to make a quick buck and the Irish promoter of questionable intention. Add to this mix the casual racism of the British press and it all makes for a fascinating anthropological film.

REVIEWS

Ronan Power for Film Ireland: “… more than a film about a strange record attempt, rather it honours a complex man who dreamed big, and tells a story that lingers on long after the credits roll.”