“There is no our side and their side in our street.”
Por qué es buena
He refuses the mob's logic in one plain sentence: on this street there is no side but ours together.
Registro
Neutral
Úsala tú
There is no your room and my room in this house.
00:00 / 04:55
00:00 / 04:55
Belfast Family Argues About Religion, Explained
Belfast · 2021
Capítulo 3 de 14 · 4'55"
A family watches TV after a night of rioting, and the talk turns to the Catholic neighbours down the street. Granny jokes that they're friends who just "kick with the left foot," but Buddy keeps asking who did the attacking. "There is no our side and their side in our street," his father says.
Key moments
Start here, then watch the full scene- 1:54–2:22
Too Much God for One Day
28s - 3:01–3:35
The Family Argues About Religion
35s - 3:37–4:46
❝ Monólogo · 14 frases The preacher's hellfire sermon
It opens with a flat threat, piles on imagery, and closes with a question the listener cannot answer.
69s
Belfast Family Argues About Religion, explained
What happens
At home after a night of sectarian violence, the family watches TV while Granny talks about the neighbours. Her light jokes — Catholics are friends who "kick with the left foot" — sit beside Buddy's serious questions about who burned the Catholic houses. His father says the street has no sides, blames religion itself, then everyone settles in for a fire-and-brimstone sermon on television.
What's really going on
The scene looks like family banter, but every joke is doing political work. When Granny says the Catholic neighbours "just kick with the left foot," she is naming the one thing that divides the street while insisting it doesn't matter. Buddy, still a child, keeps pressing the adults to say who attacked the Catholic houses, and his father's answer — "There is no our side and their side in our street" — is both a value he wants to keep and an admission that it is slipping away. "It's all bloody religion. That's the problem," he says, yet he still sends the children to church because "your granny'd kill me if I didn't." The TV sermon that follows, all hellfire and collection plates, makes his point for him.
Key lines & what they mean
- “There is no our side and their side in our street.”
- The father's hope that mixed neighbours can still live as one. Saying it out loud also admits how easily that idea is being lost.
- “It's all bloody religion. That's the problem.”
- A weary verdict: religion, not the neighbours, is what is tearing the street apart. "Bloody" is mild British swearing, so it sounds fed up rather than violent.
- “I wouldn't be too sure about that.”
- A dry reply to the idea that the violence will blow over soon. It doubts the easy reassurance without arguing about it.
- “I've had too much God for one day.”
- Humour about religion overload. After church, prayers and a TV sermon, the speaker has had more than enough God for now.
Theme
- Faith — Religion here marks identity and fuels the violence; the adults joke about it while TV preachers turn it into fear.
- Generations — Granny's cheerful fatalism and Buddy's blunt questions show how the old and young handle the Troubles differently.
Qué aprendes en este capítulo
Puntos de enseñanza
Repasa justo después de verMi nivel3/8
A1–C2 es la escala MCER. Las tarjetas por encima del nivel elegido se atenúan y la reproducción no se pausa en ellas.
Puntos de lengua
Toca una tarjeta para saltar a ese momentoFrases de oro
Una gran frase en sí misma: por qué y cómo usarla“It's all bloody religion. That's the problem.”
Por qué es buena
Two blunt sentences and one mild curse put the whole trouble down to religion itself.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
It's all drivers on phones. That's the problem.
“I wouldn't be too sure about that.”
Por qué es buena
A polite way to disagree: he doubts the optimism without ever saying the other man is wrong.
Registro
Neutral
Úsala tú
You think it'll stay dry? I wouldn't be too sure about that.
“I've had too much God for one day.”
Por qué es buena
He treats God like a dish he has had enough of, turning exhaustion into a joke.
Registro
Informal
Úsala tú
I've had too much email for one day.
Monólogo
Un personaje sostiene la escena: practícalo entero❝ The preacher's hellfire sermon
Protestants, you will die! Agonizingly! And where will you go when you shuffle off this pestilential mortal coil? Where?! Well, I will tell you where. Picture the scene. A fork in the road. In one direction, a straight and narrow highway. In the other, a long and winding road which stretches down and away into an unknowable distance. One will take you to the bosom of the Lord's grace, forever and a day caress you with beatific love. And the other will spew you into an eternal pit of sulfurous suffering, pustulating pain, from which you will never, ever, through the seven circles of hell escape! And I ask you here and now... ...which road will you take?!
It opens with a flat threat, piles on imagery, and closes with a question the listener cannot answer.
Siguiente · 04double-bluffLa escena: Billy Clanton Threatens the FamilyIdeas clave
Lo que te llevas- 'Too much God' turns exhaustion into a joke
- Granny's rule gets quoted back as a tease
- 'There is no our side' refuses the mob's logic
Preguntas frecuentes
La pregunta, luego la fraseWhy does the father say there are no sides in their street?
He is trying to hold on to the life he grew up with, where Catholic and Protestant neighbours looked after each other. Saying it out loud is also a rebuke to Buddy's question about who attacked the houses.
What does Granny mean by "kick with the left foot"?
It is Belfast slang: saying someone kicks with the left foot means they are Catholic. Granny uses it half-jokingly to insist the neighbours are still friends.
Why is the family still sending the kids to church if they criticise religion?
Will says he sends them because "your granny'd kill me if I didn't." Faith here is tied to family and habit, not only belief, so criticising religion doesn't mean breaking with it.
Who are the Kavanaghs and why are they leaving?
Paddy Kavanagh is a neighbour whose family is blamed for stirring things, and who told Buddy his own version of confession. Will warns that the Kavanaghs will soon be moving off the street.
What is the TV preacher asking people to do?
He delivers a hellfire sermon about a fork in the road leading either to heaven or an eternal pit, then asks for money. He is a reminder of the religious fear the family lives with.