Arracht, which is Ireland’s entry for the 2021 Oscars’ best international feature film category.
Have we entered the age of the famine film? I don’t know for sure, but quite frankly it’s past due. Either way, writer and director Tomás Ó Súilleabháin’s Irish language drama is a welcome addition to the (hopefully) burgeoning field: a wonderfully shot and beautifully scored examination of the Great Famine. in which the Connemara seascape becomes the star.
With word coming of the imminent potato blight, Coleman Sharkey (Dónall Ó Héalai) works relentlessly along with his brother, Seán (Eoin O’Dubhghaill), both fishing and farming, to provide for his wife and young son. He also agrees to take in Patsy (Dara Devany), a man recently returned from Britain and rumoured to be a deserter from the army. When local thugs call around to Coleman’s farm, threatening violence upon non-payment of rent, he decides to visit the wealthy landlord (Michael McElhatton) along with S