Home | Message in the Movies

MESSAGE IN THE MOVIES

The Irish writer/director/playwright Martin McDonagh recently commented that he has little tolerance for sweet films about Ireland that fill the screen with charming eccentrics. In response, he has made four films packed with profane characters and dangerous eccentrics, including assassins (In Bruges), racists (Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), psychopaths (Seven Psychopaths) and feuding former friends (The Banshees of Inisherin).

This story is set a century ago in a small village on a small island off the coast of Ireland. If you listen carefully, you might hear the gunshots of a civil war being fought on the mainland. The villagers spend their days farming, raising cattle, gossiping and drinking whiskey and bottles of room temperature beer.

Dairy farmer Pádraic (Farrell) always tries to make time to walk across the fields and visit his close friend Colm (Gleeson). But things have soured between them, if Colm’s avoidance of Pádraic is any indication. “Maybe he just don’t like you no more,” says Pádraic’s sister Siobhán (Kerry Condon). Soon Colm confirms her assessment of things, but cannot provide very many reasons why. Pádraic begs Colm for more information, anything that might provide him with a pathway towards forgiveness and reconciliation.

The first hour of The Banshees of Inisherin is a light comedy, until thing begin to turn and the story transforms into a dark and nasty tragedy, filled with heartbreak, regret and pain. The mood swing is surprising and bound to upset many. What rankled me the most was the level of absurdity inherent in the tale. McDonagh has stated that this script was originally developed as the last in a trilogy of stage plays, which makes sense to me.

You cannot fault the overall quality of this film. The acting is sublime, the set design and cinematography are stunning, and all of the cast recite their lines of dialogue with expert lilts of phrase and great timing.

But what does it all mean? It you are hankering for some existential despair, this film delivers the goods. But why? And why now? At a time such as this – when the nightly news leads with a half dozen examples of reasons to abandon all hope – I am not that keen on inviting banshees to show up at my door.

Halo and Pitchfork Rating:

Three halos: A film at cross-purposes with itself, filled with colorful performances and memorable dialogue until things take a brutal turn.
Four pitchforks: Much drinking and swearing abound; harsh words; spiteful behavior; cruel absurdities; some extreme acts of violence.

Comment:

Do you have comments about this movie or movie review? E-mail your comments. (Your name and UM affiliation must be supplied in order for your comments to be posted.)