Into the West is a 1992 Irish magical realist film about Irish Travellers written by Jim Sheridan and David Keating, directed by Mike Newell, and stars Gabriel Byrne and Ellen Barkin. Into the West was one of several major films to come from Ireland during the 1990s, including the likes of My Left Foot, The Field, The Miracle, The Commitments, The Boxer, The Playboys, In the Name of the Father, War of the Buttons and The Crying Game. Plot Into the West is a film about two young boys, Tito (Conroy) and Ossie (Fitzgerald), whose father "Papa" Reilly (Byrne) was "King of Irish Travellers" until his wife, Mary, died during the birth of their second son, Ossie. The boys' grandfather (David Kelly) is an old story-telling Traveller, who regales the children with Irish folk-tales and legends. When he is followed by a beautiful white horse called Tír na nÓg (meaning "Land of Eternal Youth" in Irish), from the sea to Dublin, where the boys and their father have now settled down in a grim tower block in Ballymun, the boys are overwhelmed with joy and dreams of becoming cowboys. The horse is stolen from them by corrupt Gardai and is sold as a Racehorse. They see Tir Na Nog on TV, and they begin their adventure to get their mystical horse back. They escape the poverty of a north Dublin council estate, and ride "Into the West". Papa Rielly is arrested, and beaten by the corrupt Gardai, until he is released on the orders of the superintendent. He then returns to his halting site, where he is shown no welcome. His friend Kathleen, takes him in and from there they go to track the boys. Meanwhile the boys find shelter using traditional traveller methods and move further West as "Cowboys" as they travel, they find the Gardai, helicopters and dog packs tracking them. Tir Na Nog always seems to find a way to avoid them. The horse takes them to their mother's grave, Where Ossie finds out his mother died giving birth to him. The net closes in on the boys, forcing them to flee to the beach, where they find Papa Rielly, Kathleen and the Barrel maker. The Gardai catch Papa Rielly and the Barrel maker in nets, and Tir Na Nog gallops into the sea, with Ossie still on his back. Papa Rielly breaks free and goes into