The
cinema-goer sits in a packed cinema in Castlebar (54 degrees North, 9 degrees West) on Good Friday,
watching Calvary.
The film is reviewed as a comedy, particularly by media outlets in
London (51 degrees North, 0 degrees West).
No one in the cinema
laughs.
And when they had
come to the place called Calvary, there they crucified Him, and the
criminals, one on the right hand and the other on the left.
Castlebar is near
the settings in Sligo (54 degrees North, 8 degrees West) where the majority of the film is beautifully
shot by Larry Smith. The cinema-goer says 'hats off' to Larry for his
fine work throughout.
The film is in the
sentimental tradition of the (in)famous John Hinde postcards of the
west of Ireland. It is packed with quirky characters, straight out of
post-modern Oirish central casting. They are engaged in a picaresque
meander through a plot-less drama, where the antagonist – The Roman
Catholic Church – gets off lightly.
The
protagonist and other characters are fey and whimpering. They lack
agency. They are boozers, variously violent, abusive, hurt,
traumatised
and odd. Except for the bereaved French woman, who is beautiful and steadfast, even when the baggage-handlers at the airport insult her
and
the remains of her dead partner by leaning on his coffin as it waits
beside the plane on the tarmac.
Is there a degree of
self-loathing in the film-making?
That
image contrasts with Bill Doyle's images of a funeral procession
on Inis
Oirr,
in his book, Island
Funeral.
Never
sentimental
and,
elevated
by Bill Doyle's artistry, they are beyond real, yet rooted there.
The cinema-goer
wonders how much inter-play there is between realism and surrealism
in the film-makers' minds.
And, of course,
there is an appeal to irony. Is it possible to be ironic on film?
Consider the scene
when the priest's daughter returns to London. She is seen on a
balcony, against a backdrop of high-rise glass and metal towers and
in front of a clean-cut cappuccino. Are the bandages removed from
her wrists? This could be read ironically. She has been 'healed' by
leaving Ireland and returning to London? No one in the cinema finds
it comedic. Do we find London modern and desirable? Better than our
home-place?
After
watching Calvary the cinema-goer reads glowing reviews in the
press and on IMDb. They bear no resemblance to the cinema-goer's
experience.
Why
do we see the priest shot in the head, twice?
Disorder, horror, fear and mutiny
Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd
The field of Golgotha and dead men's skulls.
No
one laughs. Does 'black' comedy really mean 'bad' comedy?
www.biblegateway.com
Luke: 23:32-34
Richard II;
line 2098; stage play: William Shakespeare; London; 1595
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