Written by Patrick McCabe And Neil Jordan
Directed by Neil Jordan
Narrator: "And the Francie Brady Not A Bad Bastard Anymore Award goes to - Great God, I think it's Francie Brady."
For this month alone, I decided to do a few movie reviews of the Irish kind. It won't be every day but I have a good idea of the movies I intend to rewatch and review and I thought I'd start with this black comedy.
Centring around a mischievous twelve year old Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), this movie really highlighted the consequences of mental health being untreated and the dangers of slipping into a violent fantasy world. Francie took on both the hero and villain role of the film.
As a character, he's dangerous but tragicaly sympathetic in equal measures. His family life comprised of his mother, Annie (Aislimg O'Sullivan) struggling with her own demons and a violent, alcoholuc father, Benny (Stephen Rea), who blamed Francie for his mother's passing.
If Francie's family life wasn't bad enough, having the rather snobbish Mrs Nugent (Fiona Shaw) as an enemy certainly didn't help matters. It was a mutual hatred between the two with Nugent's son, Phillip (Andrew Fullerton) and Francie's best friend Joe Purcell (Alan Boyle) somewhat caught in the middle of a rivalry that came to a violent end.
Yes, as Francie kept slipping into a darker fantasies about aliens invading the town and being rattled about being likened to a pig, it was Mrs Nugent who ended up being butchered like one. It's a brutal for a horribly unsympathetic character to go but one that well and truly highlighted how low Francie could sink as a character.
On top of that and in one of the most inspired bits of casting ever, you had Sinead O'Connor appearing to Francie at different points in his life. Casting her as the Virgin Mary was a genius move and she's excellent in the limited screen time she's given. By the end of the movie, a much older Francie (Stephen Rea) does seem to be a lot calmer than before but still haunted nonetheless.
- There's nice appearances from Ardal O'Hanlan and Brendan Gleeson. The former playing Joe's father and the latter playing a priest who tried to straighten Francie out.
- Stephen Rea narrated the movie as the older Francie Brady. The red wig he had on at the end stood out like a sore thumb.
- Standout music: Sinead O'Connor's version of The Butcher Boy of course.
- Chronology: 1960s in the town of Clones in County Monaghan.
The Butcher Boy is definitely one of my favourite Irish movies and a very dark movie to boot. You had a child who's both sympathetic and horrifying in equal measures in an era where there was no adequate help for him and his downward spiral was horrifying to watch, in spite of the dark comedy surrounding it. It's an excellent movie though.
Rating: 9 out of 10
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