May it please dear God that we might see,
Even if we only live for week after,
Gráinne Mhaol and a thousand warriors –
Routing all the foreigners!
Óró Sé do Beatha ‘Bhaile … Irish folk song
During the Irish war of Independence, initially, the British tried to put down the Irish people’s resistance against occupation by using the Royal Irish Constabulary. This was no match for the guerrilla tactics of the IRA so London then employed the para-military Black and Tans and finally launched an all-out assault on the Irish people which proved counter-productive. Ken Loach has provided the best explanation for what ensued in his film about the Easter uprising and what followed in The Wind that shakes the Barley.
In Loach’s film one of the main characters, Damian, says I hope this Ireland that we are fighting for is worth it. He had been ordered to execute his lifelong friend because that person, under torture, had dobbed in his IRA company to British intelligence.
Briefly, the Anglo-Irish treaty was signed in London on 6 December 1921, by representatives of the British government of David Lloyd George, and representatives of the Irish Republic led by Michael Collins who argued that the Treaty will bring peace while further gains can be made later.
Opponents of the Treaty proposed to continue fighting until a united Irish Republic could be won. Socialists also demanded the collectivisation of industry and agriculture. Any other course, they said, would change only “the accents of the powerful and the colour of the flag“.
The pro-treaty side supported by the British occupation army won the Irish Civil War that followed.
__oOo__
The Banshees of Inisherin depicts a dispute between two friends, Colm and Padraic, on Inisherin, an island off the coast of Ireland. The story is an allegory of the Irish civil war. After the creation of the Irish Free State and the formation of its provisional government, those republicans dissatisfied with the terms of the surrender/settlement fought against those that signed the treaty. In the end this appeared pointless and may have damaged the future of the nation by destroying relationships and making good men do terrible things. Be careful what you wish for.
My brother, John, gave insight into the film, finding it hard to accept its central premise:
“On the level of the personal relationship between the two characters, I found the premises hard to credit. Why would Colm not just say he wasn’t going to the Pub at 2 o’clock anymore and allow the friendship to wither. Why would he go to the extreme of threatening to cut off his fiddler’s fingers if Padraic spoke to him. On reflection, this is also a part of the allegory. That the civil war could occur was unbelievably pointless and destructive.”
I found the film to be very disturbing. Critics have said that it is comedic but I find it so. What is funny about an allegory of a civil war where there are so many deaths? It is a moody film with a witch, self mutilation, suicide, loneliness, despair and death. It reminds me of my depressive father who died before his time. Joe Curr used to quote Thomas Hobbs: “life is solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short“.
One character depicted as a fool made a declaration of love to Padraic‘s intelligent sister, Siobhan. When she rejected his advance, Dominic, the son of the brutal policeman who beat him each night said: “There’s another dream gone” and committed suicide.
In the end, only Siobhan finds an escape on the mainland.
A very sad, disturbing and evocative film. A tragedy of Shakespearean proportions.
Ian Curr
24 Jan 2023
References