12 thoughts on “Was It For This?

  1. Jeffrey

    This makes it sound as if it was a “British movie” … !
    Best Irish movie in a long time, highly recommended. And yeah, British die a lot in this one, for good reasons!

  2. Starina

    “western-style turn” that’s…a misinterpretation.

    It looks like it’s only the tweet that says British, though. The article itself says Irish. Wish it wasn’t blocked by GDPR, would love to read their take.

  3. millie st murderlark

    Is it just me or have they gotten worse since brexit?

    Also Black 47 is absolutely brilliant. A fantastic watch. I wasn’t expecting to enjoy but by golly I did.

    1. Spaghetti Hoop

      That is not at all relevant. The film is Irish-made and based on an Irish language story with a majority Irish crew and cast.

      Okay production I thought – wins on atmosphere and cinematography – bombs on history and context. More like “oppressed and angry man takes revenge on polished coloniser”. We are with him of course, and the film builds on us wanting him to slay the arrogant British luitenant. Unimaginative ending though.

      Incidentally, Stephen Rea stated on a recent radio interview that it was the first film solely about the Famine. I’m not trying to challenge the man, but it got me thinking on the number of films that depict it. It has featured in typically oirish movies for sure; the folk that left for America and the folk that stayed behind. Then there is the recent biopic of Queen Victoria on ITV / PBS that dealt with the famine from her perspective in Season Two…..biased of course….but the show’s researchers had done their job well in depicting both Triall and Trevelyan; an apt alliteration of surnames. But the image of Victoria being benevolent to the cause is wrong as we all know, and Peel’s reluctance to respond positively to it we know too. I wonder if the British film-makers have approached the Famine with more balls than the Irish have, up until Black47 that is. Given the poor history teaching in Britain but the strive to recompense for imperialism there, I think the British broadcasters are looking at the Irish Famine as new material…hence the swift ownership of Black47 and its probable US interest.

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