50/23
60 Minutes Highlights: Red Sea Crisis/Fake Voters/Finding Cillian Murphy (2024)
Plot
In 1985, devoted father Bill Furlong discovers disturbing secrets held by the local convent and reveals shocking truths about himself. Cillian Murphy is a fan of the original author of the film’s novel, Claire Keegan. He remembers reading her novel, “Foster,” on a train and having to pull his hood over his face because he was crying. It took me a few days to process this film.
So we have this story, which is unfortunately true, set in New Ross, Ireland
To everyone who asked me “did you like it?” I couldn’t give them an answer. I didn’t like it and I didn’t stop liking it for one simple reason: it’s so absorbing, such a meditative experience that I just internalized it. There were moments when I realized I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds during scenes, other moments when I found myself smiling, and moments when I could feel the weight on my chest. It’s dark ages Ireland, when you start watching this film you might feel like you’re in the 50s but in reality it’s the mid 80s, people were lucky if they had a job and a warm place to sleep, the Catholic Church ran the show and was so deeply embedded in the institutions that it controlled education and therefore shaped the culture of the time.
Small village, closed minded, everyone knows everything and everyone
It’s a small village, the film does a fantastic job of putting you in the oppressive atmosphere, even showing the main character Bill Furlong doing very repetitive work tasks at the beginning, it’s all part of getting you into the mood. Perception is key, show your best side, keep the bad hidden, homologize, don’t think outside the box. And repeat. We meet Bill Furlong in the midst of a nervous breakdown, he was the orphaned son of a young mother, who was lucky enough to be raised by the woman his mother worked for.
He had a difficult childhood because, despite being raised by a wealthy woman, he does not belong in that world and times are not kind to an orphaned child
He is trying to come to terms with his past when one day, delivering coal to the village convent, he finds a girl in the cold shed left there overnight. His struggle between personal interests and doing the right thing is powerful, he has 5 girls and the nuns control the education and therefore the future prospects of his talented girls who he loves and has worked his entire life to provide for, and doing the right thing , morally and ethically also putting on top of that his mother could have been one of those girls if she had not been so lucky to be taken in by a kind person. He is forced to look the other way, to ignore other people suffering for the sake of his own family, but when looking the other way is someone who understands the pain, someone who has been through it and knows what it means, looking at the other way becomes much harder. It is beautifully shot to highlight the darkness and somberness to match the heavy tone of the story, I found the use of the blurred lenses incredible and essential to the plot, when you see something you don’t want to see, that you want to block out.
He was born with a gift and thankfully decided to share it with the rest of us
The scene with Eileen in the living room is an incredible example: she is listening but ignoring, she really doesn’t want to know. Eileen Walsh is absolutely phenomenal in portraying this woman who for a while you kind of think she is a coward, but then you understand that she is scared, she is doing this for the good of her family, how can you blame her? Emily Watson is terrifying, she exudes power with every word she utters without even making a move, she is imposing even for a strong man, a great metaphor for the Catholic Church that has managed to subdue entire countries for centuries. Cillian Murphy, for an hour and thirty minutes, reminds us why he won an Oscar six months ago.