Written by Neil Jordan, Traveller centers on two teenagers, Michael and Angela, who are wed in a marriage arranged by their fathers and then travel to Northern Ireland to smuggle goods back to Ireland. They are travelers, Irish who, gypsy-like, live a life of poverty on the move. Their edgy, ghettoized life is echoed in the film's cryptic, moody style. When their journey goes awry, the couple begin to travel aimlessly, rarely connecting on any level beyond immediate need. Their flight, instinctive, seemingly without options, nonetheless brings Angela some independence from both her husband and her abusive father. Terry Byrne has commented in his recent book on contemporary Irish cinema, "The clear statement here is that there is a sizable segment of Irish society which is disenfranchised in its own country. The oppressor here is no foreign invader, and the people being depicted have done nothing except to be born into a tradition of poverty, flight, and petty crime." (KG)