Summary

Travelers have wandered the Irish countryside for centuries. They were tinsmiths, harvesters and migrant laborers, fortune- and story-tellers, horse-traders and peddlers, knife grinders and scrap dealers, always performing a welcome chore for the settled society. As the centuries went by the so called tinkers adjusted their lifestyle to the changing conditions. Today, however, their traditional life on the road is coming to an end. "Rules of the Road" is a contemporary road movie forgoing the familiar cliché of romantic escape. Instead it focuses on Irish travelers who not only herald a sweeping economic migration, but also are the living exponents of an odyssey. An odyssey reflecting the state of mind in an absolute industrial society. The Irish travelers have no place to go. And they never had a place there they could stay. —Oliver Herbrich