Banshees of Inisherin - an exceptional masterpiece about the futility of conflict
Bringing a new and very literal meaning to giving someone the finger
There was so much buzz about Banshees of Inisherin at the 2023 Oscars ceremony, and it lost out in most categories to Everything Everywhere All At Once and The Whale - I’ve seen all three now, and whilst I absolutely think the right feature won when it comes to Everything Everywhere All At Once, I think Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson were unjustly overshadowed by The Whale.
Similarly to In Bruges (which I love) Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson head up Martin McDonagh’s tragicomedy set on Inisherin, a remote fictional island off the coast of Ireland in 1923, gunfire can be heard from the mainland as the Irish Civil War is beginning to come to a close. Pádraic (played expertly by Colin Farrell) calls into his longtime friend’s house for their regular outing to the pub, Colm (played by Brendan Gleeson) is ignoring him, and giving no reason why. We soon find out that Colm no longer has any interest in maintaining his friendship with Pádraic. According to Colm, Pádraic is too dull, and with the passing of time, Colm doesn’t want to spend his final years talking about horse shit with Pádraic, he wants to write songs and be remembered in death for his musical achievements. Pádraic, feeling utterly rejected, continues to try and maintain the friendship, and Colm eventually issues an ultimatum, every time Pádraic continues to try and talk to him, he’ll cut off one of his own fingers.
In addition to our main friendship breakup narrative, we also have Pádraic’s sister, Siobhán who is exasperated by life on Inisherin and Dominic and his father Peadar (who is a morally questionable police officer) and Mrs McCormick who is best described as an elderly witch-type character - all of which get entangled in Colm and Pádraic’s breakup. The film is split into three acts, the first two of which are hilariously laugh-out loud funny. The Irish strain of humour, akin to Father Ted, laced with bleak grey/green vastness and emptiness of the island, deliberately crafted to emphasise isolation. There is a quality in the environment of Inisherin that encapsulates the claustrophobic nature of Colm and Pádraic’s friendship, even in a breakup they can’t escape each other and this puts a pressure on Pádraic, he can’t be around Colm without trying to find out why he wants to end their friendship, he tries to flex to Colm and be what he think’s he should be rather than accepting the end of the relationship. And this leads to dire consequences for the both of them. The final act brings to the forefront the existentialism that Colm is feeling, the notion that ultimately to be forgotten in death is unbearable; although it’s safe to assume that Colm will be remembered for his actions and not his music as he so desperately craves.
The thread woven tightly in Banshees is that of the destructive power of conflict, and how pointless destructive conflict can be. There is a fable like quality to the narrative arc, neither party comes out the other end better off. Pádraic sacrifices an opportunity to expand his place in the world by demanding answers that he refuses to understand about the death of his friendship with Colm. Colm self-destructs despite outwardly expressing his desire to make something of himself and dreams of leaving behind a musical legacy. There are scenes in confessional booths that are marked by a typically Irish Catholic humour and the priest outright asks Colm “how’s the despair?”. A not uncommon affliction for anyone a hundred years later, the despair of wasted time, unrealised potential, an impending death, the despair of a lack of presence in the world; alive or dead. Colm deliberately tries to extract Pádraic from his life believing that he is the main cause for his despair. Branding Pádraic, perhaps quite unfairly “dull”, ironically on an Island where the most exciting thing that seems to happen is hearing gunfire from the mainland, I think everyone on Inisherin is prone to a spell of dullness. It’s a tragic assessment of what looked to be a close friendship, one that Pádraic cannot accept is dead. Rather than be offended by being branded dull, he desperately tries to work out how to make things better, attempts to change to fit what Colm wants to no avail - flogging a dead horse comes to mind. The tit-for-tat bickering culminates in tragedy, an inescapable point of no return. The ambiguous ending, maybe not as ambiguous as suggested, points to the futility of conflict, specifically civil conflict where the trigger seems to be a disagreement of opinion and a lack of compassion. It doesn’t take a genius to work out how this is still ever so relevant today.
The Banshees of Inisherin is an absolute masterpiece of cinema, it’s extremely funny, bleakly melancholic, a simple but effective and poignant narrative. Martin McDonagh proves again with the magic pairing of Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson that simple, understated cinema is usually the best. The haunting Celtic soundtrack compliments perfectly, the cinematography of indoors pubs and houses - early 20th century Irish gloomy gothic flawlessly captured, environments plucked straight from the social realist art movement and the greenery of the Emerald isles is breathtakingly beautiful.
Banshees of Inisherin is currently available on Amazon Prime