It’s a rocky rural idyll on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean. The craggy sea cliffs – Europe’s highest – are swathed in the orange setting sun. Animals – sheep, cows, donkeys – gambol rather than walk on the ancient bog and jump over the babbling brooks. The sand is golden, the ocean as green as the land. Even when it’s lashing down, there’s a rainbow framing the fleet of three fishing boats in the quaint harbour.
This verdant set for Martin McDonagh’s new film The Banshees of Inisherin is actually a sea-washed, beach-framed, dry-stone-walled island called Achill, off County Mayo on the West Coast of Ireland. (Inisherin literally translates as ‘Island Ireland’.) But despite its natural beauty, this island isn’t portrayed as a utopia. The Banshees is a story of a riven community soaked in alcohol and drowning in crushed dreams. Pádraic (Colin Farrell) and Colm (Brendan Gleeson) may be best friends, but their petty feud escalates into near unwatchable violence.
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