Martin McDonagh
The Banshees of Inisherin

“The Banshees of Inisherin” in Italian will become “Gli spiriti dell'isola”, will officially release on February 2nd in our cinemas. I just finished watching it half an hour ago, in the original language but with subtitles, otherwise I wouldn't have understood almost anything.

The subject is by the director, screenwriter, and producer Martin McDonagh, someone I had never heard of before. However, a while back, I happened to watch (already started) a couple of times “Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri” a beautiful film of his from 2017.

Searching among the films in competition at the 79th Venice Film Festival, I chose this one, and it turned out to be a perfect choice. It is a story set in 1923 on a mythical Irish island and narrates the last episodes of two friends recognized by all as such. It goes without saying that this friendship suddenly ends one day, without a precise reason, but because of the boredom that one of the two (Colm) feels for the younger one (Padraic). Despite the insistence of the friend and all their acquaintances, Colm does not change his mind; instead, he threatens the ex-friend never to speak to him again. He wants to be left in peace, and if Padraic contravenes his irrevocable desire, as an ultimatum, he assures that the next time he speaks to him, he will cut off (with an old pair of shears for shearing sheep) a finger of his left hand, the same one he uses to play his beloved violin, and so on until there are no fingers left...

Characters:

The friends, Colm and Padraic.

Siobhan, Padraic's sister.

Peadar, the police officer.

Dominic, another young friend of Padraic and the son of the island's only police officer.

Mrs. McCormick, an old hag.

Jonjo, the innkeeper who runs the island's only pub.

Jenny, Padraic's little donkey.

The priest, who lands on the island every Sunday to say mass and hear confessions.

Small spoiler of little note (uh, you have been warned...): an old hag prophesies two deaths on the island soon, which will promptly come true, but it will not be the two former friends who die.

The film, in its tragicomedy, gives much to reflect on human relationships that can shatter in a flash without anyone being able to remedy it and leaves one astounded by the succession of events.