3/1/2023 0 Comments Netflix the last bastion![]() ![]() In the distance can be heard the explosions of the war on the mainland, Irish fighting Irish over whose version of Christianity is the right one. Barry Keoghan delivers a haunting performance as “Dominic,” the “idiot savant” of the village who instinctively comprehends better than anyone else what is happening. Kerry Condon is the one bright light as Padraic’s wise sister “Siobhan,” the force of reason. The strained relationship between two men of the village is born of the bond they have with each other, and it affects the whole town. There are a series of grand gestures made, and hellishly misguided as they are, these actions seem to have a cathartic effect. ![]() They become giants in their own minds on this tiny island in the most remote area of Ireland. This is the story of two men, “Padraic” and “Colm,” played beautifully by Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson, who feel their smallness within the vast scope of the world. Inishmore and Achill are the Catalina and Channel Islands of Ireland, to put it in a California context. 70% of the people on Inishmore still speak Gaelic, on Achill around 50%. The islands he has chosen for his location are isolated and seemingly untouched from the way they were at the turn of the last century. He started his career as a celebrated playwright, and most of his plays are set in Ireland. His parents still live in Galway, the last bastion of Gaelic culture, so McDonagh knows the area and its people well. The Banshees of Inisheer is the first film by writer/director McDonagh to be shot in Ireland, where he spent his childhood summers. Some of the villagers still spoke Gaelic to one another. There was a magic in the Irish ancient hills, trees, rivers, and the warm, decidedly eccentric people. It seemed as if nothing had changed since the 1800’s. The Ireland I knew was very much like the village and landscape depicted in this film. ![]() This was decades before the country went through a sea change in character brought about by the “Celtech Tiger,” when Ireland became the technology center for Europe in the late ‘90’s to early 2000’s. Over 50 years ago, I was fortunate enough to live for two years in an isolated village called Annamoe in the Wicklow Mountains about 30 miles south of Dublin. This simple story is so realistic, it seems almost as though it could be a documentary. Martin McDonagh has written and directed a story set in that isolated region at the time of the “troubles” began between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, the early 1920’s. Inisherin is a fictitious island off the west coast of County Galway in Ireland that in the Banshees of Inisheer is played by Inishmore and Achill, two real islands in that area. It also provides many pleasures, from a stirring score and to memorable performances from many, including Michael Blakemore and Timothy West as (once again!) Churchill.A Banshee is a female spirit from Irish Folklore who marks the death of someone by wailing or keening. That is what makes this compelling viewing from the start. One cares for learning about the factual complexities/anxieties that Australia underwent during world history's most dramatic time. However, no smart viewer cares about such quibbles. Some of the actors (including Warren Mitchell as FDR) are not always convincing with their American accents, and even some of the actual Americans have laughable moments(Robert Vaughn plays MacArthur wearing sunglasses, even while indoors). It's not as well-done as CHURCHILL AND THE GENERALS or WORLD WAR II: WHEN LIONS ROARED, but it's a cinch to say that viewers who loved those dramas will enjoy this one. during WWII.but what about those beloved, amiable mates down under? This docudrama does a very fine job of showing what they went thru. Many of us have seen dramas of what transpired in England, the U.S., France, Italy, etc. ![]()
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