 The writer Seán Ó Faoláin argues that what emerged was a society of "urbanized peasants" without moral courage who observed a self-interested silence in a "constant alliance" with an "obscurantist" and "uncultivated" church.The film covers the continuing dominance of the Anglo-Irish aristocracy with scenes of hunting and equestrian events.The country's lack of independence from American foreign policy is touched on; Conor Cruise O'Brien is critical of Ireland's following of American policy in the United Nation's General Assembly since 1957, and argues that Ireland should follow Sweden's more independent lead.