Film – The Banshees of Inisherin

The Banshees of Inisherin is a film of metaphors, and indeed metaphors within metaphors. 

Written and directed by Martin McDonagh, whose credits include the fabulous movie ‘Three Billboards Outside Epping, Missouri’, the movie is set on the fictitious island of Inisherin, on the west coast of Ireland, in 1923, during the civil war that followed partition.

The indications of the metaphors start with the title, Inisherin itself being the Gaelic word for “Island of Ireland”.

The central premise is that the two main characters, a younger gentleman, Pádraic, played by Colin Farrell, and his older friend, Colm, played by Brendon Gleeson, each live in amongst the small rural population surrounding the village on the island.  They had been in the habit of meeting at 2.00 pm each day to spend their afternoon at the village pub, talking about nothing of any substance.

Colm, without notice, cuts off Pádraic and refuses to have anything more to do with him. When Pádraic presses his desire to maintain their friendship, Colm, an enthusiastic violinist, threatens to cut off a finger for any time that Pádraic steps across the boundary that he has set. It is a threat he carries out.

The film has a somewhat contrasting setting.  The island appears beautiful and the cinematography is superb. For the natural beauty of the place it is somewhat dystopian. There are no couples. There are no children. Life on the island frankly seems bleak and without promise.

Turning to the metaphors, one of them is that Inisherin is in fact Ireland itself, of that time.  It has become somewhat isolated and isolating for its occupants, denying them the progress and prosperity enjoyed by others elsewhere in Europe.  There is a reflection of this when Pádraic’s sister, Siobhán, played by Kerry Condon, migrates to “the mainland” and encourages, unsuccessfully, her brother to come and join her, at a place where there is a promise of employment, personal relationships and a quality of life entirely missing on the island. Pádraic’s refusal comes despite the plain circumstance that he has nothing there to stay for, other than the ongoing misery of what has become a war between him and his former friend, Colm.

The references to the civil war going on in Ireland are limited, with occasional scenes of the flash of artillery that can be seen at night in particular. Those on the island seem to be somewhat disinterested in the goings on of the war, given their inwardness, though there are representations of an interest only in the violence and not in the rights or wrongs of the cause of either side.

That theme plays out in the breakdown of the relationship between Pádraic and Colm. The ‘civil war’ that erupts between them, in the end, seems to become a justification in itself. The reasons for it have become lost but the war must be fought for the war’s sake, at great personal cost to each of them.

There is a desperate lack of hope for a resolution to the conflict that had developed between those two lead characters.

Elsewhere there are metaphors for the hopelessness that can develop out of such isolated living, told most poignantly through a scene played out between Siobhán and Dominic, played by Barry Keoghan.  Siobhán’s character is somewhat older than the young man Dominic. Her character is intelligent and well-educated. Dominic is a simple and unsophisticated young man, a victim of his father, the village policeman and an abusive drunk and pervert.

The scene below shows why these two supporting actors, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan were nominated for Best Supporting Actor awards at the Academy Awards:

The film was nominated in the Academy Awards for Best Movie. Colin Farrell was nominated for Best Actor and Brendan Gleeson for Best Supporting Male Actor alongside Barry Keoghan.

The film has likely finished its run at the cinema, though the occasional screening may still be found. It is otherwise available on various streaming services. It is a film that provokes considerable thought and analysis in its aftermath. It is worth seeking out.