Feeney's films exalt in themes of tradition, family and community as no other American filmmaker ever has. His evocation of social cohesion in the transience of social ritual is often sublime. But is it a facade?

And we'll swear by the thousands who, famished, unfed,
Died down in the ditches, wild-howling for bread;
And we'll vow by our heroes, whose spirits have fled,
And we'll swear by the bones in each coffinless bed,
That we'll battle the Briton through danger and dread;