Arracht

It's a historical drama about a present we are still stuck and live in. Interesting use of special effects flickering through the memories of a mourning father and taking the dark gloominess of the moss covered coast mountains. Splendid use of audio effects setting the atmosphere. Cast put up a remarkable performance with their assignments. It's a quiet story with an intriguing progression and a beautiful conclusion. A tragedy that changed the course of a country's culture is briefed and signalled well with the brief fateful encounter between the landlord and peasant. Monster is a tale of survival that has beauty worth appreciation.

I found this film moving, it really got to the point and shows the life that Irish people lead in them times and in my eyes it is one of the best made famine era story's that has been told, acting was brilliant, well directed and great story would love to see more of these sort of period dramas showing the hardships of Irish people true the struggles of been suppressed for over 700 years that is not taught in schools in other nations eg Cornwall's conquest of Ireland, the battle of the Boyne just to name a few. It's great to hear our native tongue sound so beautiful in such a dark time in our history but made the film much more believable.

The start of the Irish disease potato famine in 1845 reaching its peak in 1847 where millions died & millions fled, many to the Americas where they faced discrimination. This dramatization starts with a few Irish asking their English landlord not to raise the rents as the people are starving. Subsequently an adversarial relationship develops & escalates. Titled (in my opinion inaccurately) as "Monster", but in Irish "Arracht". Some of the period Irish dialogue was hard to understand; subtitling helped somewhat.

The first thirty minutes of this film is very good in setting out the core of the story and the concluding ten minutes is also good. However, the middle section is a bit plodding and drags. Overall the film is well acted and very atmospheric. I saw this film at the Glasgow Film Festival.

Arracht: 1845, the potato blight is on the way, it has a distinctive smell. Colmán (Dónall Ó Héalaí) is a tenant farmer, a fisherman, a poiín distiller, a folk healer. The sight of a Galway hooker boat with it's red sail, small isles in the background the sun on the sea; building a stone wall, always plenty of stones in the fields of Connemara. Drinking the poitín, Colman avoids it, eating the mackerel and potatoes. But a dark is approaching, not just the potato blight but the landlord wants to increase the rent. Patsy (Dara Devaney) a deserter from the navy has a run in with bailiff when he comes to Colmán's house. Colmán goes to the landlord in an attempt to persuade him to lower the rents, bringing Patsy with him to apologise to the bailiff. The landlord is unmoved but mayhem results when Patsy reveals his dark side.

We see the result of the Great Famine, Colmán's family are dead, many perish from disease as well as from starvation, a pestilence and a blight are upon the land. Colmán has been in hiding for two years on the islet where he kept his poitín still. Some great shots of the narrow inlet leading to Colmán's cave where he hears the voices of his dead wife and son. Venturing to the mainland occasionally, helping with his folk medicines he meets a young girl, Kitty (Saise Ní Chuinn), who he nurses back to heath. Their developing father/daughter relationship fills out the second half of the film. But there are a few plot twists and the narrative is infused with dark events. People who are hungry will act abnormally, the true horror of the Famine is illustrated through this and the sporadic finding of bodies by Colmán, these were all locals he knew. The Great Famine didn't just happen: it was imposed upon the people. Great performances by Ó Héalaí, Devaney and especially by Saise Ní Chuinn. Directed and written by Tomás Ó Súilleabháin. In Irish with English subtitles. 9/10.