Black ’47 (2018)

“You can almost understand why there’s still so much hatred towards us.”

My mother, an English woman, said this to me after seeing Black 47, Lance Daly’s bleak Irish western, set during some of the darkest days in Irish history – though it is important to note that this is not an anti-English film. Black 47 tells the story of Feeney, a man on a quest to avenge his family after they’ve each died at the hands, be it directly or indirectly, of those who took control of his country. Along the way he is hunted tirelessly by bounty hunter Hannah and army officer Pope.

It’s pretty standard fare as far as a cowboy story goes, but this formula works in favour of what Daly is hoping to achieve. Throughout Black 47 I couldn’t help but think back to my time in history at secondary school. I realised that my knowledge of the famine in Ireland extended to precisely this: at some point, there was a famine. I didn’t even know any specific dates. The more I thought about this, however, I realised it wasn’t exactly shocking that I knew so little about this period in Irish history.

Countries like glossing over the more shameful elements of their history. My knowledge of the famine was simply from me being told it was one of the reasons many Irish natives immigrated to the USA, something I learned whilst studying American history. Which included slavery – people are far less squeamish with young people learning the dark, uncomfortable chapters of another nation’s history, but we heard nothing of the famine.

Daly was no doubt aware of the audience’s ignorance of this period in Irish history. This is why the Western template makes complete sense. Juxtaposing the harsh, painful truths of an entire nation being brutalised by people entirely lacking in humanity against the familiar Western genre is incredibly jarring and works wonderfully at hammering home the message of this film.

The film director achieves this through deft camera work as well. Smash cuts are used liberally and to great effect. We’re taken from the dim, barely lit interior of a dilapidated hut to a shocking, almost unbearably saturated day that forces you to avert your eyes for a second to get your eyes in focus. Daly also manages to make the rolling hills of Ireland appear washed out and  grey – this world he’s created, or rather recreated, is sad, barren and, if you didn’t know better, on the verge of collapse entirely.

James Frecheville is astounding the lead role, managing to play an almost entirely silent role whilst exuding menace and communicating purpose through his heavy, trudging movements and Hugo Weaving once again knocks it out of the park as the world-weary, entirely misanthropic bounty hunter. Amongst this unrelenting, harrowing story, Black 47 still manages to squeeze a small amount of laughs from its cast here and there, mostly thanks to Stephen Rea (Utopia) whose comedic timing is impeccable and the incomparable Jim Broadbent provides the suitably slimy, stomach turning antagonist Lord Kilmichael.

Black 47’ is an important film for those, like myself, who are unfamiliar with this particularly stomach churning moment in history. Obviously, this is not a history lesson, it’s entertainment, but if it actually encourages you afterwards to do a bit of reading and learn about this dark period, then I believe Daly has achieved what he set out to accomplish.

Director: Lance Daly
Writers: Lance Daly, P.J. Dillon (story by)
Stars: Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea