Black '47 (2018) Online

I liked. A very raw irish drama with strong moments and incredibly good images. The story was simple structed and was pretty basic but its based on true events and that makes it shocking. You have your unbeatable war hero who turns against those who actually praises him to be what he is and everything becomes messy. Then you have the police commissioner whose specialtiy is being a hunter who .. hunts him. But the historic truth behind it makes it extremely authentic. Director Lance Daly really successes in making it a believable drama and avoids every poor cliches to make it more cinematic. The acting worked as well. I really liked Hugo Weaving who shines in the leading role as the trouble commissioner who gets one last chance. James Frecheville delivers with a very silent but extremely raw performance, much in the tradition of Leonardo DiCaprio's Revenant turn. Good Supporting roles by Stephen Rea and especially Jim Broadbent who is in the second half of the movie but pretty much owns every scene he is in. Nice turn by newcomer Barry Keoghan was well.The cinematography was amazing, the scenery excellent (except for those painted village images, which were a bit irritating at times) . It has many shocking moments and some well edited action sequeces. A great mix that works most of the times. Good performances over all. Lovely irish music that adds a lot to the general mood. Very recommendable movie even if it had the one or other dry scene.

I really enjoyed this film which tells the story of An Irish Ranger who returns home after fighting for the empire abroad to find that his homeland is destroyed and family killed by the very forces he was defending. he sets out on a revenge journey which is set to the back drop of the famine in the west of Ireland. I like the fact that lance does not bow to a Hollywood production and instead depicts a very real narrative. It is dark and the performances are brilliant. The photography is class and you feel you are moving within the scenes along with the characters..hope to see the movie translate to overseas audiences. THumbs up.

Just watched Black 47 tonight in West Belfast with a hushed audience. A story about injustice and famine and how comradeship can redeem the evil in man. A dark and emotional film which will make you cry - and whoop as some of the culprits are served justice by a man of the people.

Feeney (the persuasive, unexpectedly Australian James Frecheville) plays an Irish Ranger who returns from wars in Afghanistan to find his family caught in the cogs of the developing holocaust. Heaving around a head like an Easter Island statue decorated with weeds, Feeney soon encounters even worse outrages and, setting aside ideas of emigration, vows to pursue a war against the administrators and colonialist bandits. This is a must see...

Best irish film since "the field " .fantastic leading man and great turn from stephen rea and extended cast ,beautiful use of the irish language ,

I went to see this expecting it to be the usual anti-English "begod and begorragh" Hollywood nonsense. It pleasantly surprised me. I heard it described as a "potato western" as opposed to a "spaghetti western" and that sort of describes it. A high plains drifter in the rains of Connemara avenging his slain family but with a difference. I wanted to criticise the Irish/ Gaelic used in it....but I couldn't. It was fluid and believable though I felt the lead actor James Frecheville's "Irish" was a bit too "good Dublin school" rather than natural Gaeltacht. What a surprise to learn he isn't Irish at all and that he learned Irish for the part !. Kudos. His accent in English completely fooled me.....I would have sworn he was Irish.....totally amazed to learn he's Australian ! The only bit I can criticise about this film is the "starving" peasentry looked a bit too well fed.....though some of the kids do look scrawny and the safety glass and door handle in the Pub door in the last scene is a bit of a continuity screw up.....other than that it's a stylish film well made and very believable.

This maybe a bit biased as i grew up in an area deeply affected by the famine and its aftermath but i loved this searing portrayal of a former solider with mixed cultural loyalties going rogue and getting some personal revenge for one of the greatest tragedies in human history.

the performances were terrific i loved the cinematography. the action was well done and as a student of history i found how well researched it was really great and helped it be really authentic and entertaining for me.

my favourite thing about this is how it portrays the mixed loyalty a lot of irish at the time and even now feel towards england. The main character is a ranger but deserts. Other english characters are portrayed quite sympathetically while there are some truly evil irish people as well. i dont want to spoil it but how layered and deep the characterization is is the stand out for me. makes it feel like living history not two dimensional us v them stuff.

I enjoyed it massively it but I did wish there was more story. what was there felt a little stretched out by the end. reminded me of a smaller scale django unchained.

I loved this movie, loved the use of the Irish language it really gave you a sense of how it would have been among the native people. I didn't expect to watch this movie to be entertained, more to be educated, it did both. I came out with my blood boiling, saddened but proud of how strong us irish people can be in the depths of despair. The director has done a fantastic job portraying how life was during this really dark time. Must see!!!!!!

A very good film bringing the Irish famine back to life on the screen . It really highlighted how the British really meant to exterminate the Irish back then. If your British I recommend you look at this film showing how the British Empire nearly killed the Irish through hunger and destruction of their homes . Very well acted and disturbing but with some whither well.

I saw Black 47 in Dublin last evening with my 23 yr old son and we both loved this movie, but in different ways. I thought it was a magnificent piece of movie making -historically and sadly accurate, as well as being an exciting revenge thriller in the style of any great Clint Eastwood western. My son simply loved the action and thrill of the central characters's chase - for him, the famine was just a background to the action.

Director Lance Daly and his writers have managed pull off the difficult feat of making a film about the Irish Famine, a universal soldier's lot, and a stubborn individual set on justice for the wronged, that is both resonant, thought provoking -not all the villains are English- and yet completely, absorbingly, thrilling. Even the end feels true to life and nicely ambiguous.

Charismatic acting from the leads, the great Hugo Weaving (Hannah) and newcomer James Frecheville (Feeney), gives a throbbing heart to the action, with Freddie Fox I-want-to-smack-his-smug-gob-perfect as a by-the-book arrogant military counterpoint . I am amazed to see Frecheville is actually Australian, his red bearded look and his English /Irish accent are so spot on (a comparative rarity in films set in Ireland :-).... ). His thousand yard stare is right up there with Clint Eastwood's, and his fight scenes are convincingly violent, dirty and nail biting.

The bleak Irish land plays a big role in Black 47, well served with beautiful cinematography - many shots look good enough to hang on any wall. Language is used to great effect - showing how it could be a big handicap for the poorest, categorise and divide the social classes and even yield a few sly laughs here and there.

The rest of the actors are well cast and deliver authentic performances - notably Stephen Rea playing a jaded professional story teller, guide and sleeveen to a tee and Jim Broadbent (once again) delivering a complex but repulsive portrayal of an English landowner.

There is a lot to think about in the film - for example I never really considered that not all parts of the country were equally blighted during the famine - some made out quite nicely thank you very much. So Black 47 is a history lesson wrapt up inside a gripping action move - you can enjoy it either way. I predict this will be a big hit in Ireland.

In the mid 18th c, William Blake penned the opening lines of his Auguries of Innocence to illumine the complexity that is our world, self evident in the growth cycle of a wild flower, to reveal how our human experience may be grasped and understood in the simplest forms.

In a similar way, we may turn to the media of film and attempt to engage, so to understand better, that which is known but not always so will perceived. So often, our attention is diverted by the day-to-day challenges of our times. But, from time to time, a song, a picture, a film, a moment will draw our attention in, to interact with, and to show a past moment, made present, to speak to the challenges of our day.

And so, the release of Black 47 reaching now to the 19th c., a film engaging with the historic realities of a famine, draws our mind to understand the challenge of what kind of person might one be, in face of what we do not anticipate in the normal turn of our lives. And it engages with society, become careless with life itself, when the structures of communities collapse, yet where compassion and courage still yet find their voice in the choices one may make.

Black 47 is a film that communicates on a number of levels simultaneously. It speaks of the physical reality of a society in hunger, in a land, wealthy and ecology, fertile. It speaks of the travesty and in turn absurdity of an educated class in response to these events, where we simply look away. It speaks to the unseen but deeply understood observations of human nature caught in a story told, a song that is sung, in the immediacy of an image momentarily still. It speaks to a reality of how a culture so strong, a language so complex, becomes eroded. It speaks of communities disseminated, a people driven to other lands to emigration and isolation yet coming forward to stand along with another. And it speaks to the choices one may make along the way, choices that turn and return as the characters attempt to find their place through their acts along the way.

The film communicates by its narrative and by moments that remain in the mind, as a painting might, of the physical realities and emotional interplay of events unfolding. It is a film that is carefully considered and maturely thought - through. It is moving and it is revealing. While one would not wish to witness the suffering of others, the film transcends the dangers of excessive violence or vicious thinking but rather attempts to simply bring to light the choices made and the choices that are simply, potentially there. It is compelling and it is compassionate. The director, the cast and production teams may be quietly satisfied for now bringing into play a realisable experience of human suffering and how it is, crises for cultures may come so easily into play.

Black 47 is currently showing in Ireland at the Irish Film Institute.

This piece of the dark history about how the Ireland people was brutally treated by the British is like the Jewish Holocaust that have been repeatedly made into novels and films. My latest viewing of it was the TV series "Highlander" about how the Scotland people were so cruelly treated by the British. This 'Black '47" is one of the best films that I have viewed in late of this year. It's so thoughtful, dark, dreary, atrocious, cruel, bloody and sad; a mixture of unforgetable and undeniable heartless inhuman crime committed by the British Empire and its aristocratic society.

The whole film is well scripted, directed and performed by a bunch of A-list actors to support a not quite well known actor, James Frecheville, to play the leading "Fenny" role. There's no romantic moment at all in this film, only the horrible human sufferings. I just felt sad and numb when this film ended, but at the same time, would like to praise its seriousness of making this film.

I fully expected to hate Black '47. The trailer was awful, making it look like a generic action flick; several colleagues saw the screening at ADIFF and were decidedly unimpressed; I thought most of the film was in English, which rubbed me up the wrong way. Mainly though, I was just fulfilling my God-given right as an Irish person - being cankerous for no earthly reason whatsoever. However, because I was expecting to hate it, when I discovered that it's actually quite good, it led to me thoroughly enjoying it. Easily the most hyped and anticipated Irish film of the last decade or so, Black '47 is proudly advertised as the "first film about the Great Famine". And were this true, it would undoubtedly occupy a canonical place in Irish artistic output in general. However, there is one vital factor that everyone really needs to know before seeing it - it isn't the first film about the Famine. It's the first film set during the Famine, but it isn't about the Famine. This is a genre film, a revenge western set against the backdrop of the Famine. The Famine is not the film's central theme, nor does it attempt to engage with it on a national scale. If you accept that, and don't expect to see Cecil Woodham-Smith transposed to the screen, there's actually quite a lot here to admire.

Before looking at why I enjoyed the film, however, a (very) small bit of background. The Famine is the single most significant event in Irish history; a cataclysmic tragedy on a biblical scale. Between 1845 and 1852, around one-and-a-half million people died and nearly two million emigrated, reducing the populace by roughly 25% (1847 is known as "Black '47" because both the death and emigration rates were at their highest). So disastrous was the Famine, that Ireland is the only country in Europe whose population today is smaller than it was in 1840 - in a lot of ways, the country still hasn't recovered; the Irish language was laid to waste; the myths and sagas of Irish folklore were forgotten for decades, until the advent of the Celtic Twilight and the Athbheochan na Gaeilge, and even with these movements, large portions of the folklore has never been able to reintegrate into the zeitgeist; the proud tradition of Irish bards changed forever, with thousands of songs lost; Irish literature slowed down to a trickle, taking over a hundred years before returning to its pre-Famine affluence; and hatred of the English occupiers became more galvanised than at any point in the previous 700 years of their presence - the common man blamed the Famine on the English, and for the first time, the poor and uneducated began to think along the lines of political insurgency.

All of which brings us to Black '47. Considering how important an event this is in Irish history, it is as conspicuous by its absence from the national cinema as it is from the national literature. There are, however, practical considerations beyond the thematic enormity of the task; representing something of this scale and with this level of suffering is massively difficult on film, especially with a limited budget. And in any case, how does one fashion a narrative which could possibly convey the bleakness of the Famine? Maybe in this era of long-form narrative on TV, there's a possibility of doing something Famine-related, but condensing the most significant seven years in Irish history into a two (or three, or four) hour film is nigh-on impossible, not to mention the sheer unrelenting misery one would need to put on screen. It wouldn't exactly be a crowd-pleaser - watching an entire country slowly starve to death probably isn't going to pack Marvel fanboys into the local multiplex. And so, with that in mind, Black '47 has no intentions of dealing with the Famine on that kind of scale. This is a genre piece, it's a western, a revenge thriller.

Indeed, using the Famine as a backdrop for a genre exercise is probably a wise choice - it allows limited engagement by way of a plot-driven story, without setting up massive expectations (advertising hyperbole aside) and unconquerable thematic hurdles. No Famine narrative could ever depict a story in which a protagonist rights all the wrongs of Ireland, because no such person existed. However, the relatively contained story of the Fenney's (James Frecheville) revenge is more than aware of that. He is never painted as someone out to liberate the country, spurred on by the wrongs done to him personally - he's no Mel Gib...sorry, William Wallace. He wants revenge on the people who wronged him; he has no aspirations of saving Ireland, and is powerless to do anything on a larger socio-economic canvas. The film never lets the audience forget this, whether it be shots of Fenney emotionlessly riding past starving peasants on the roadside, or his invasion of a Protestant soup tent, where he eats his own fill and then leaves. He's not the avenging spirit of Ireland made flesh, he's not Cú Chulainn, or one of the Tuatha Dé Danann. This is not a piece of nationalist wish fulfilment, and it makes no claim to be.

In terms of how the film represents the Famine, apart from its importance to the plot, co-screenwriter/director Lance Daly uses a number of "quintessential Famine images". These include one of the first shots in the film, which shows a skull sinking into the wet mud, representing the dead and their connection to the land (a little on the nose, but it does the job); when Ellie (Sarah Greene) first appears, she looks like Caitlín Ní Uallacháin, the implication being that Ireland itself is literally dying; when Ellie and her children are evicted, the scene is very much an archetype of such evictions - women and children crying, men being restrained, the thatched roof of a cottage burning, callous bailiffs; a Catholic priest warning the starving peasants not to "take the soup"; peasants taking the soup, a scene which throws up one of the most controversial and long-lasting ramifications of the Famine (more on this in a moment); grain being stockpiled for export to England; bedraggled peasants huddled at the gates of an affluent estate, begging the rich occupants to give them food; multiple references to emigration. In point of fact, although the Famine is essentially just background, Daly works hard to make sure the viewer never forgets what's happening beyond the edges of the frame, by occasionally allowing it within the frame.

One of the reasons I thought I was going to hate Black '47 was because I thought it was entirely in English, which would have been patently ridiculous. Perhaps the most long-lasting effect of the Famine is that it decimated Gaeilge, the Irish language. The Famine is why this review is in English, and why I can speak only a few sentences in my native tongue. In seven years, the Famine did what the English couldn't manage in 700 - it destroyed that which defined us as a people, our very national identity. However, not only are large sections of Black '47 in Irish, the film actually uses the Irish language and the attempts to suppress it as an important recurring motif. For example, Fenney speaks both English and Irish, but he makes a conscious decision to only speak Irish, even when talking to non-Irish speakers. The film also shows a judge erupting in anger as peasants in his courtroom, unable to speak English, begin to converse in Irish, whilst Lord Kilmichael refers to Gaeilge as "that aboriginal gibberish". However, the most important scene concerning the Irish language is one which recalls the linguistic brilliance of Brian Friel's play, Translations (1980). In the Protestant soup kitchen, when the priest asks a peasant his name, the man replies "Séamus Ó Súilleabháin". The priest turns around to a translator, who responds, "James Sullivan". This speaks to the Anglicisation of Irish place names by the British (Béal an Átha became Ballina, Dún Dealgan became Dundalk, Trá Lí became Tralee, etc), itself an attempt to destroy the language and undermine our sense of place. Daly never allows the devastating effect the Famine had on the language to fade too far into the background, and the narrative is all the better for it.

Of course, all of this is not to say the film is perfect. Composer Brian Byrne's score, which features a heavy usage of uilleann pipes, is decent, but overly didactic. Additionally, the character of Kilmichael is something of a clichéd, token villain. Daly also has a slight tendency to unsuccessfully mix naturalism with stylisation, perhaps most obvious in the use of intentionally artificial looking matte paintings as backgrounds in some of the panoramic scenes. Whilst the intention behind this was most likely to try to evoke the look of old sepia photographs, contemporary audiences used to photorealistic CGI in every shot will probably interpret it as cheap effects work, which is a shame, and does the film no favours. Finally, if there's one thing I was surprised that wasn't mentioned, especially given all the references to emigration, it would be the coffin ship, the image of which is a permanent component of the Famine's legacy in Ireland.

However, all things considered, this is a strong and reasonably important piece of filmmaking. Yes, it's essentially just a revenge western, and yes, in that sense, it's nothing overly special; there are a hundred films along these lines, and several of them are better than Black '47. However, Daly allows the Famine background to come to the fore sufficiently so that we never forget when and where we are, and because of this, it's undoubtedly an important film. Mixing the historical with the generic just enough so that each informs the other without either becoming (too) diluted, it's not the first "Famine film", but it is a very decent, honest, and respectful attempt to put something (anything) of that great tragedy on screen. And that is something to be lauded.

I watched this film last night in Bantry.Other reviewers have said enough about the plot, the acting and the cinematography, and certainly it had elements of a spaghetti western. However, for me, the history lesson element was most impressive and the movie should be required viewing for any students of the period. For instance, the use of the Irish Language with subtitles and when Feeney says (in Irish) at one point "I WILL NOT SPEAK YOUR LANGUAGE" is interesting historically, set against the fact that the Irish language was banned at one point. The film goes a long way to explain the origins of some of todays issues and attitudes, and informs the viewer.

Went to see Black 47 last night , and a after a slow start the tension and action just built .. Thought it was a brilliant film with great acting ,scenery and very authentic.i couldent believe Feeney the main actor was Australian as his accent and grasp of the Irish language was awesome .. Well done to the director, cast and crew, it's great to see a really good film made in Ireland and about such a sensitive time in Ireland

Super movie, must be seen by all in England,USA and of course Ireland...

A very good movie. Brought the horror of the famine to the big screen in a very interesting way. One man's quest for justice.

What an amazing piece of film making on show here. Its essentially a Western set to the back drop of The Irish Potato famine. That this period has never really been depicted before really is sad,as its a time that should never be forgotten. Both the leads in James Frecheville as Feeney,and Hugo Weaving as Hannah are simply masterful. Whilst we may be used to Weaving putting in such a great roll Frecheville is a relative newcomer.But judging from the intensity that he brings to this part he will be around for a long time. This should be required viewing to anybody who studies English history. Bravo.

Harrowing at times but a real insight to a moment in time for Ireland in 1847. Connemara looks spectacular and the story told opens our eyes to the darkness of our past.

This movie was always going to have the question of how it would deal with the backdrop of Ireland's bleakest period in history and yet deliver a movie with character progression and story narrative. In my opinion it respectfully acknowledged the historical darkness without getting shackled down by its inertia. And I appreciated this. It could have well have been consumed by this but manged to put the characters and vengeance plot line front and centre. The pacing of the movie gave a good sense of the period. The cast very much delivered and made it very engaging. The story stayed within a narrow enough spectrum but built on this very well. It's great to see Irish cinema not afraid to delve into the murky and down trodden past of Irelands history and deliver a very well crafted and polished movie. Scannán iontach

Loved out. Well worth watching. Extremely sad. Hard to believe this was a reality.

The film has some fairly stirring moments and a setting which rises its peers in this style of film. The acting from Hugo Weaving and Freddie Fox is very good ,if the latter is a bit schlocky as the stiff upper lip British public school imperialist.

Frecheville handles the Irish language and accent surprisingly well (though a native speak might see it different). It was still a pity an Irishman was not in the part despite this.

A strong female character would have been a plus, maybe as a local peasant who gives shelter to the protagonist who unfortunately took back seat to the British pursuers early on in the film.

Some extremely stirring scenes made the film not just a piece of entertainment but actually memorable.

Black 47: George Bernard Shaw referred to the Famine as "the great starvation" rather than "the great hunger" because food was being exported from Ireland in 1847. This fact causes an existential crisis for a young British soldier (Barry Keoghan) who cannot countenance the idea of people starving to death while soldiers and police guard foodstuffs bound for export. In this bleak film directed by Lance Daly the camera pans across the desolate landscape of Connemara, stoney fields and hills, with the sick, dead and starving Irish by the side of trails, living in makeshift shelters after being evicted. Cinematographer Declan Quinn captures these outdoor scenes with a washed out filter and indoor dark lit by flickering lights. Never before has a guttering candle been used to such effect.

Martin Feeney (James Frencheville) has deserted from the Connaught Rangers in Afghanistan, returning to his home he finds the roof is gone and a pig is stabled in the ruins by a rent collector. His mother has died of the fever and his brother was hanged for stabbing a bailiff. Coming across an eviction of some of his relatives he intervenes and is arrested by the Irish Constabulary. They think he is an ordinary soldier but he had survived for years fighting Afghan warriors. He overpowers a guard, arms himself and in the ensuing fight kills six constables and escapes.

Hannah (Hugo Weaving) is a police inspector who killed a well connected prisoner during interrogation; however he had served with Feeney in Afghanistan and is now offered a pardon if he will track him down. He is accompanied by an arrogant English Captain (Freddie Fox) on the journey to Connemara. There they are joined by Keoghan and set off on horseback. They soon find a judge hanging from his chambers window, despatched by Feeney. Further on they find the rent collector decapitated, his head replaced by that of a pig and his own head on a stake in the ruined Feeney family home. Feeney is out to kill all of those who played a part in the deaths of his family.

This film is really a revenge Western set to the background of the Famine. But it very much in the mode of Australian Westerns with constables in pursuit accompanied by native collaborators. Conneely is an interpreter for the posse but is very much an enigmatic character, a raconteur who hopes to get the makings of a great story and a song to retell. Hannah also has mixed feelings about his task, Feeney had saved his life in Afghanistan. Perhaps the only cardboard character in this film is Fox who comes across as a sneering toff officer. Even Jim Broadbent who plays the Landlord has a more rounded back story.

While Feeney at times comes across as a 19th Century John Wicks the drama is believable as he is driven by a thirst not just for revenge but for justice. This particular story might not have happened but it could/should have. Feeney is the Archetype that flowered in Tom Barry and Dan Breen. This is truly a 19th Century Wind That Shakes The Barley.

A powerful tale with many scenes which will scald your heart and some extremely violent episodes. 9/10

96 mins felt like 3 hours in this film. The scenes were way too long and the pace way too slow. This film should have been a 1 hour TV film. The authenticity of the characters and sets/locations looked great, but the character development I was looking for was absent. Directing was adequate although poor in some scenes. The cinematography bland - was it a B&W film or washed out colors? Either way, it could have been done better using filters and better lighting. The story itself was good, but the screenplay was flawed with major plot pacing, omissions and issues. Editing could have also been much better. Would I see it again? Nope. Would I recommend it? Probably not. 5/10 from me.

I find the production quality of this film to be above what you'd usually expect from an Irish film and thus causing people to regard it more highly than any other film, given our lower standards.

The film was simply okay. Something you can throw on without much thought when sitting at home, but nothing engaging, intelligent or all that special. 'A man on a quest for vengeance' is hardly the most original concept and one would hope for anything that might help it stand out from the crowd. This film, however, offers little more than the sheer novelty of having an Irish setting and prevalent use of the language.

It's not a bad film, but nothing I would want to spend money on.