Oscars 2023: The Banshees of Inisherin is a dark, poignant meditation on futility of conflict

For some, being remembered or leaving a legacy is important. Or it becomes so at a point in life when they can see their death in the near future. Looking back, they realise they haven't lived a life worth living, after all. Being remembered, then, provides a sense of significance and purpose in life. Colm Doherty (Brendan Gleeson) from Martin McDonagh's beautifully elegiac and darkly comic film The Banshees of Inisherin is one such man. A folk musician inhabiting the Irish isle of Inisherin (fictional) in 1923, he suddenly decides he wants to leave the world with a momentous composition that the world will remember him by. Naturally, such decisions entail that one upgrades their company.

And Doherty does to his closest friend Pádraic Súilleabháin (Colin Farrell) what today's kids would call ghosting. In his words, he "just don’t like you no more." Unable to comprehend what has happened to him, Súilleabháin, a simple (but not simple-minded), kind-hearted soul descends into melancholy after a couple of desperate attempts to restore the friendship.

Nine nominations for The Banshees of Inisherin at Oscars 2023

In Oscars 2023, The Banshees of Inisherin, which has had a dream awards season run thus far, is nominated for Academy Awards in nine categories, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and so on. The film is a strong contender for Best Picture at the Oscars, having won a Golden Globe in Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy category.

Does The Banshees of Inisherin deserve the Best Picture Oscar?

Definitely. Save for Everything Everywhere All at Once, we struggle to think which other film among the 10 nominees deserves this trophy more.

What makes The Banshees of Inisherin so special?

"We haven’t been rowing. I don’t think we’ve been rowing. Have we been rowing?" Pádraic responds as an answer to a question from his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon).

Eventually, Doherty tires of Súilleabháin's attempts at reconciliation and gives him an ultimatum: he will chop the finger of his left hand every time Súilleabháin will try to strike up a conversation with him. And to Súilleabháin's disbelief, he proves true to his words. Things only get downhill from that point.

The two are so different from each other that you begin to wonder how they became friends in the first place. In a scene set in the local pub, Súilleabháin confronts Doherty, who retorts to the former's claim that niceness is important. "Ah, well, I suppose niceness doesn't last then, does it, Padraic? But will I tell ya something that does last?" Súilleabháin, exasperated and inebriated, asks, "What? And don't say somethin' stupid like music."

McDonagh, a playwright-turned-filmmaker, writes strong dialogue and I have found something to adore in each film of his. But The Banshees of Inisherin is easily his magnum opus. It is a quietly affecting meditation on kindness, friendship, conflict, and legacy that is both sad and funny, and often at the same time.

The setting of the Irish Civil War is not accidental. The film is peppered with moments when the citizen of Inisherin stop to look at sounds and visuals of distant explosions on the mainland. War and interpersonal male conflict, the film posits, are really no different. Their reasons are as meaningless and as irrelevant after a point in time.

"We haven’t been rowing. I don’t think we’ve been rowing. Have we been rowing?" Pádraic responds as an answer to a question from his sister Siobhan (Kerry Condon). Of course, they are rowing. Pádraic just doesn't know it yet. And there comes a point when he becomes a willing participant in this war. And just like all wars, this one is startlingly violent.

Farrell, who I believe owes the resurgence to his Hollywood career to McDonagh, fills Pádraic's character like a shoe. He is incredible in the role, eminently watchable even when there are no words in the scene. The supporting cast, Gleeson, Condon, and Barry Keoghan (in a heartbreaking, moving role), are a match. Oh, and look out for Jenny the donkey!

The Banshees of Inisherin is a precious and sad film. An understated masterpiece '

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