“The Banshees of Inisherin” (2022) is set on a fictional titular Irish island off the coast of mainland Ireland during the Irish Civil War during the spring of 1923. Other than the occasional startling sound, the war leaves the community untouched. The community is more absorbed with Colm (Brendan Gleeson) abruptly breaking up his friendship with Padraic (Colin Farrell), a simple man who lives with his sister, Siobhan (Kerry Condon), and loves his animals, especially Jenny the donkey. When Padraic persists in trying to reignite the friendship, Colm takes drastic measures with unintended consequences.
As soon as “The Banshees of Inisherin” came to a theater near me, I saw it immediately. I loved “In Bruges” (2008) so having director/writer Martin McDonagh team up again with Farrell and Gleeson was instantly appealing though McDonagh’s latest has a different tone. I love the themes of intergenerational relationships, and not enough movies focus on friendship breakups. It is a universal experience that transcends gender, race, religion, nationality, etc. So while I understand that the film has greater significance in terms of the historical context, it works fine for those with little to no knowledge of Irish history. Also the friendship breakup acts as a nice jumping point for broader, deeper themes about the purpose of life, the best way to live and how casual cruelty is like a lit match in a dry forest.
Even though Irish films have mastered the balance between humor and drama, and “The Banshees of Inisherin” is a hilarious film in unexpected ways, it is also a bleak one. I would not recommend it if you are struggling. When I think about all the characters in this film, they appear to be single with routines not tied to a family with a husband and wife. There are plenty of silent women and men milling around, but they appear untouched by the conflict unless they frequent the only pub house on the island. Some characters such as the barman may be married, but is never shown with his wife. The owner of the store/postmistress can be described in the same manner. I only noticed after “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” (2017) that McDonagh depicts unbalanced communities-law enforcement without a judicial, executive, or legislative branch.
In “The Banshees of Inisherin,” people with authority violate their public duties for personal interest. The cop abuses his son, sucker punches and harasses people. The postmistress opens the mail. The priest refuses to absolve penitents of sins. While the island looks like a paradise in every shot, it is not. It is a bucolic, charming authoritarian island. So the dramatic dissolution of a friendship seems emblematic of the island’s dysfunction in that context, but when the film begins, it seems more innocuous.
I liked that “The Banshees of Inisherin” did not provide a lot of backstory about Colm’s situation, though Padraic, as his former best friend, references some trigger anniversary for Colm’s decision. If I’m piecing together Colm’s story based on the environment, Colm is not originally from the island, used to be an entertainer and retreated from the mainland for mysterious reasons. Colm is very sympathetic and indeed does have a right to decide how and with whom he spends his time. His boundaries ought to be respected, and the fact that he is choosing life over giving in to “despair” makes him heroic. His ability to create and choose a meaningful, productive life after and/or during a depressive episode is aspirational; however he and Padraic suffer from black and white thinking.
Has capitalism distorted Colm’s values in his judgment of Padraic as dim and not worth his time? Do lives not matter if they are not valuable, witty or human? A priest asks, “Do you think God cares about a miniature donkey?” My answer is I care, Padraic cares, Colm cares and since God created them first and spoke through one, rode on one, yes! Animals are closer to God’s will than man. Padraic’s dullness is indisputable, and he is aggravating to his frustrated sister trying to keep a tidy house for his refusal to adhere strictly to being human and allow animals into his space and be a companion to them. All these animals are more sensitive and better people than their people.
Padraic is a pre-Eve Adam in a post fall world—aware of his difference from animals and need for human community, which exists, but unable to digest it and ultimately destroyed by it. He is an asexual being. Instead of seeking out better people or accepting his solitariness, Padraic refuses to not be tied to Colm even after the friendship dies. Colm only finds Padraic interesting when Padraic is mean, drunk or suffering. Padraic does not recognize that he can live a life outside of Colm despite their history and routine, which makes it a tragedy. Padraic is rightfully furious that Colm has chosen poor company, abusers. Colm gradually appears like a mad man compelling people to play his music despite their horror at his condition. There is an element of “Red Shoes” to his compulsion and feels demented. Padraic finds toxic ways to establish a new routine. He is transformed for the worst.
“The Banshees of Inisherin” does a superb job of empathizing with Padraic. He bears the burden of uncertainty and questioning his reality. Did he do something wrong? Does he not remember? Is he an inadequate person? Also he initially receives encouragement to be persistent and not respect Colm’s boundaries. Farrell has always been a superb actor, and he proves it again in this role. Despite being fine as ever, he is convincing as the guy whom no one wants to be around. He characterizes himself as nice, which was a red flag to me. In reference to Colm, Padraic wonders, “Oh God maybe you never used to be [nice].” Colm is a songwriter and fiddler regardless of his progress, his physical condition and others’ behavior towards him. Padraic’s niceness to people is transitory and conditional. Maybe he never was?
The meaning of life is not to be nice, productive or remembered after death. Siobhan punctures Colm’s theory by showing that compared to her, Colm is dim and lacks knowledge. Does her intellectual prowess make him as useless as he deems Padraic? Of course not. Padraic’s transformation from nice to nasty does not make viewers feel less sympathetic to his loneliness and heartbreak. It is valid. No one will remember Colm’s music, and Padraic is no longer one of the “good guys.” They still matter as much as Jenny’s donkey or the village creep, Dominic (Barry Keoghan), who has no value other than existing. Siobhan seems to get it right not because of the specific action that she takes, but by reacting to despair and running from the spectre of death, judgment and self-condemnation.
Side note: a lot of reviewers have been calling “The Banshees of Inisherin” a fable without elaborating as if the classification is enough. Maybe the lawyer in me is rising. I need fable to be defined, showing how the film fits that narrative genre then close with the movie’s moral. I do not disagree, but it is insufficient.
