Child of the Dead End on AllMovie

Stephen Rea stars as 20th Century writer Patrick MacGill in this hybrid documentary\biopic that draws on the itinerant Irish laborer's novels, letters, and stories to tell his remarkable tale. A man who witnessed the Labor Movement, fought in World War I, and endured the Great Depression, MacGill's earned the nickname "The Navvy Poet" thanks to his early work as a navigator, and penned such celebrated novels as Children of the Deadend and The Rat Pit.