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THE BUTCHER BOY
Born and raised with two strikes against him, Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), with a drunk for a father, Benny (Stephen Rea), and a mother, (Aisling O'Sullivan) slowly going mad because of that and their abject poverty, the one thing Francie needs but is denied him is understanding and love. The consequences of being shunned are horrendous.
Based on the novel by Patrick McCabe and beautifully directed by Neil Jordan whom we all remember from The Crying Game, the film is taut, tense with our knowledge that there can be no happy ending for young Francie.
Francie's only friend is Joe (Alan Boyle) who together enjoy a world of comic books and imaginative play. Later, even Joe opts for friends who are more stable, leaving Francie further alone and devastated. One of his biggest enemies is the gossip, Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw) who takes a great dislike to Francie, blaming him for all the troubles he experiences.
When Francie returns from reform school, he finds employment in a slaughterhouse, (hence, the film's title) hardly the right place for a pre-teen, especially one with Francie's problems and disposition. Perhaps the last place where he should be working is where animals are hacked up and blood is all over the place.
Both his parents die. Despite his having had nothing to do with either, having received nothing from them, he is further alienated. He latches onto an imaginary Virgin Mary icon (Sinead O'Connor) who "talks" with him. However, eventually all of these hardship descend upon the child and he explodes in a rage of violence.
Despite the seriousness of the subject, there are, surprisingly, moments of laughter. As Shakespeare well knew, you don't keep everyone on edge without relieving the tension every now and then.
I have one caveat: the movie should have subtitles. I've said it before of other films made in Great Britain. In particular, this film is laid in a small out of the way village and the accents are rough on the ears. Despite being able easily to follow the story without understanding every spoken word, I felt I was missing something by not hearing everything uttered. When are those in charge going to realize that some English-speaking films do require subtitles?
Directed by Neil Jordan
3.5 Bytes
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Copyright 1998 Ben Hoffman
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