From Best Picture to Best Actor, the 2022 film The Banshees of Inisherin has been nominated for a whopping nine Oscar awards. Naturally, this drove me to book my cinema tickets to watch it as soon as possible – and I can confirm, it deserves every Academy nomination it received. Directed by Martin Mc- Donagh, the film is set on a fictional rural Irish island during the 1920s. It is full of beautiful cinematography of the Irish coast, and even more beautiful moments. The cast is made up entirely of Irish actors, all of whom are insanely talented. This includes the stellar Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Barry Keoghan, and Kerry Condon.
One thing that director McDonagh has been repeatedly praised for in The Banshees of Inisherin was his ability to combine dark humour and tragedy so effortlessly. Whilst the film has many humorous moments, the more sorrowful and emotional parts spoke to me the most. To give a brief summary, the film follows two best friends - Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) and Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson), and their friendship break-up after Colm decides he would no longer like to continue being Pádraic’s friend as he is too “dull”. Pádraic, confused and hurt, tries to understand why Colm no longer likes him and goes to extreme lengths to save their friendship.
Although the plot seems basic and somewhat two-dimensional at face value, one metaphoric interpretation I have been enjoying explains that the film is actually all about the Irish Civil War and Irish history. The war is referred to multiple times throughout the film, with dialogue or silences often being interrupted by the sound of a canon on the mainland. The loneliness felt by Pádraic represents the generational depression caused by the war, and Colm’s desperation to be remembered for his music represents Ireland’s fear of being forgotten as an independent country and how this has led them to destroy themselves whilst trying to ensure their culture is acknowledged. Notably, the death of Pádraic’s donkey reflects the thousands of civilians killed during the 800-year crossfire. Even without this deeper layer, the film still holds such emotional weight, as I am sure many people can relate to being dropped randomly by a friend they held in high esteem.
The film had a truly great impact on me, a very much normal audience member with no detailed prior knowledge of the Irish Civil War, and prompted me to do a bit of research on it myself. It has also convinced me that I’m in need of an emotional-support donkey. I also discovered that the cozy jumpers worn by the cast in the film were made by a local woman in her 80s, Delia Barry. She worked closely with costume designer Eimer Ní Mhaoldomhnaigh to create jumpers that reflected each character’s personality and remained true to 1920s Irish fashion. Impressively, Barry did not know any of the actors’ measurements before knitting the jumpers but managed to get them almost spot on. The film is now streaming on Disney+ and I urge everyone to give it a watch!