"The Banshees of Inisherin" - Film Review
The Banshees of Inisherin is an uncomfortable exploration of loneliness. Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) are lifelong friends…well, they were lifelong friends. One day, seemingly out of nowhere, Colm says that he no longer wants to be friends with Pádraic. This revelation seems to take a weight off Colm’s shoulders, but it sends Pádraic into a downward tailspin. He’s now left to reckon with the loss of someone dear to him, but since the island they live on is so small, Pádraic cannot escape seeing Colm on a daily basis.
Depression is thrown around as an explanation for Colm’s sudden change of heart, but no one takes mental health seriously. Pádraic asks why Colm can’t just keep his depression buried deep down inside of himself like everyone else does. It’s a depressing reality for many, that pushing down anxieties and sadness is easier than confronting them.
The heart of the rift between these two old friends is Colm’s desire to create something that will outlive him. He sees conversations as a meaningless waste of time. Chatting with a friend is no longer a good use of time in Colm’s opinion. Instead, he wants to spend the last years of his life composing music that will solidify his name in history, like Mozart and Beethoven. That’s the fundamental difference between Colm and Pádraic. For Pádraic, it’s not about extending his memory beyond his death to people who never knew him. Life is about niceness. Pádraic remembers his parents and adores his sister (Kerry Condon) because of how kind they are. Immortality to Pádraic is the kindness that is passed down from one generation to the next.
Searchlight Pictures
Life can feel easier if you’re cynical. It’s hope and possibility that make the world lovely, but their absence can be crippling. The Banshees of Inisherin is what happens when you choose to be cynical, and shows how that ultimately ruins the things in life that make it meaningful. It’s ironic and sad that Colm ended the friendship to focus on music, but the way he lashes out at Pádraic takes away his ability to play his instrument. It’s interesting to see a film rooted in such kindness coming from writer/director Martin MacDonagh, especially after Three Billboards Outside of Ebbing, Missouri. Both films have a similar theme of vengeance, but it’s The Banshees of Inisherin that best shows how violence as a means of “righting wrongs'' is heartbreaking in its own right. It never seems to fix what was wrong in the first place.
Loneliness is isolating, painfully so. You can be surrounded by people and still feel the stifling ache of being alone. The things that help keep despair at bay (friends, music, animals) are the most fragile and need the most care. And yet, those are the aspects of life that people view as frivolous. The Banshees of Inisherin fluctuates from deeply sad to darkly humorous, a mirror of life itself.
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