The Banshees of Inisherin

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peter
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The Banshees of Inisherin

Post by peter »

If you were a fan of Martin McDonagh's In Bruges then you may well be pleased to see the two lead actors (Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson) reunited for a second outing, but in a very different film with an entirely different feel.

This time the two actors play a pair of 'friends' on an island off the coast of Ireland (and when one of them complains of his life being dull, this is pointed out with the additional comment, "What do you expect?"). The tale starts off with the relationship between the two erstwhile pals suddenly taking a difficult turn and things go down hill from there.

Being set in what, early twentieth century Ireland (or an island there off) it is inevitable that the unrest of the country and the mystical nature of the place should both feature strongly in the tale, but in some ways this is almost a fairy story without the fairies. The one person in it who sits on the border of the different worlds - fairy and real - is a frightening character, malevolent and knowing in equal measure, and not someone you would be pleased to see walking toward you in an Irish lane or anywhere else (come to that).

Now I saw one review of this film where the reviewer said that he had laughed uncontrollably for the first half of the film. I don't know what film he was watching, but it wasn't the same one as I was seeing. To me the film has an almost inevitable quality of tragedy in the waiting about it. I agree with the reviewer that the story is really about the inevitability of our mortality and the fear of passing without having left a trace, but this, while its made pretty plain, is never lingered on with long dissertations or dialectics. The story is told and it is what it is.

And what it is, is very good!

This is an uncompromising film, beautifully played by all of the actors and absolutely nailed to a tee with the settings, and it will stay with you for a long time after you have seen it. The open countryside is matched by a spareness in the dialogue where nothing is wasted, but nothing is left out either. The characters are more complex than they at first seem - especially Farrell and the rapidly rising Barry Keoghan, who's star should be watched very carefully - and they go through changes as the film develops.

But the last word must go to the unnerving 'wise woman' who's brooding presence sits over the film like a malicious vulture, orchestrating (?) from afar, events that will change the lives of the protagonists in ways they cannot imagine. Told that her predictions are "not very nice" by the bewildered Farrell character after he fails to avoid her in aforementioned country lane, she replies, "I'm not trying to be nice. I'm trying to be accurate."
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Post by wayfriend »

We've been trying to see this. Sadly, it's not widely available where we live. It's been released as an "art film" and so only a few esoteric theatres have it.
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The Banshees of Inisherin

Post by Skyweir »

I’m going to keep my eyes out for this one ~ sounds interesting
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The Banshees of Inisherin

Post by Skyweir »

ok saw this 2 nights ago and how perfect are Farrell & Gleeson together.

I loved it~ it was an excellent analogy for the Irish Civil war and it’s absolute stupidity.

And how ridiculously it escalated when great personal harms were caused.

Like Gleeson chopping off his own fingers to spite his own face … well you know. And the horrific slaughtering of the beautiful miniature donkey 😭😭😭

I really want a miniature donkey now ~ she was sooo sweet.

Tragic travesties of injustice and ridiculousness ~ giving pay to the futility of warfare.
Last edited by Skyweir on Wed Mar 22, 2023 4:26 am, edited 1 time in total.
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The Banshees of Inisherin

Post by wayfriend »

If you know how different parts of the movie correspond to different aspects of the Civil War, please share.

Like, who is the donkey? :D
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The Banshees of Inisherin

Post by Skyweir »

No just generalities ~ the bigger picture conflict.

Interestingly, I see the struggle against the arbitrary division enforced on Ireland and the Irish … by the English/and from Westminster, following the War of Independence and those divisions being further spotlighted by Brexit. All of which leads to raised eyebrows if nothing else about quests for Independence.

I’m sure these things aren’t lost on the Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael – who are both currently in government together, for the first time and have their roots in civil war politics.

Ireland & England have a long history of strife and violence over their vastly differing views on British rule of the island.

The civil war commenced after the Irish War of Independence, which led to the establishment of Ireland as a *free state* that nonetheless would remain part of the British Commonwealth (more like Canada than Scotland).

Some who had fought for independence with the Irish Republican Army supported the treaty that created the *Free State* others fiercely opposed it, believing that Ireland ought to be wholly independent sovereign state, free from British involvement.

And why not?

Why not also Scotland? Wales?

The Scots & the English have shared a slightly different relationship but not so different in their desire for independence and a quest most Scots today still think about.

For Ireland in the 20s was a bloody war in which men who had fought on the same side now were fighting one another, lasting from June 1922 to May 1923.

Friends, relatives now facing each other on the battlefield.

The break between Colm and Pádraic works on its own terms, but it’s also a startlingly violent fight between men who are basically brothers, a fight that arguably has a semblance of logic to it (one party wants something better, culture, arts things which they see Britain has) ~ and yet the fact remains that it is heartbreaking precisely because of the depth of history between the warring parties.

Ireland is a relatively small place ~ so you can imagine the divisions impact almost everybody.

I found this an interesting article:

Colm’s desire to reject small farmer Padraic can be taken as symbolic of the bourgeois nationalist forces that coalesced around the new Free State in Ireland after partition and ‘abandoned’ the six counties in the north?

The fledgling militarised state, backed by British imperialism, fought a ruthless war against the radical republican forces that refused to recognise partition and the bloody creation of the six-county Unionist-dominated northern state and the oppressive 26-country Free State.

The anti-Treaty forces lacked a developed social programme and the mass mobilisation of the working class to win.

The Communist International warned, in December 1922, while still under the leadership of Lenin and Trotsky: “Armed struggle alone, without its extension and support through economic and political actions, will end in failure. In order to achieve success, the masses must be mobilised against the Free State.”

Siobhan’s dilemma, between staying living with her brother in a poverty stricken and small-minded community or taking off to the mainland for a job, could be a reference to the mass emigration from Ireland that took place from the 1920s onwards. During this period, the triumphant pro-Treaty Irish bourgeoisie consolidated its rule over an impoverished state and worked hand-in-hand with an ultra-conservative Catholic Church hierarchy.

In reality, the people of the islands of the west coast of Ireland were not, by any means, confused bystanders to events taking place on the mainland. Some of them played an important role in the revolution and counterrevolutionary events between 1913 and 1923.

The renowned Irish novelist and short story writer, Liam O’Flaherty, who was born on one of the Aran islands off the coast of Galway (where Banshees is filmed), was an active anti-Treaty republican, a founder member of the first Communist Party of Ireland in 1921 along with James Connolly’s son Roddy Connolly, and was editor of its weekly paper, the ‘Workers’ Republic’. His brother Tom O’Flaherty, also a writer, emigrated to America where he was active in the Wobblies, an early member of the Communist Party, and a supporter of the American Trotskyist, James Cannon.
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The Banshees of Inisherin

Post by Skyweir »

I thought this a pertinent comment
it can sometimes be more difficult to find a way to cease hostilities in battles between friends, partners and family members.
Pádraic is non-combative and friendly, making his descent into chaotic vengeance all the more compelling...

… Justice is typically associated with rationality and proportionality. But Pádraic’s vigilantism is driven by a frenzied, if calculated, need to retaliate and then destroy.

As the tensions between Pádraic and Colm play out, distinctions between antagonist and protagonist, friend and enemy, perpetrator and victim, the innocent and guilty collapse. The punishment (arson and attempted murder) no longer befits the offence but has its own grim righteousness regardless.

As Colm’s home burns, revenge is not just done and seen to be done, but is the perverse measure of Pádraic’s newfound resilience.
https://theconversation.com/amp/the-ban ... edy-197556
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