"The Irish in Film"

The Irish Studies Program's film series, "The Irish in Film," continues on Wednesday, October 20 with "The Butcher Boy" (1997).  Directed by Neil Jordan, the film is based on the 1992 highly acclaimed novel by Patrick McCabe.  It stars Eamonn Owens as Francie Brady, a troubled youth who struggles to cope in a dysfunctional family. His father (Stephen Rea) is an abusive alcoholic, and his mother (Aisling O'Sullivan) is suicidal. Francie engages in innocent pranks with his best friend Joe (Alan Boyle), but he also experiences unsettling fantasies.  Francie's retreat from reality occurs when a neighbor, Mrs. Nugent (Fiona Shaw), verbally abuses his family, calling them "a bunch of pigs."  The boy becomes obsessed with Mrs. Nugent, and his antisocial behavior towards the Nugent family becomes enough to send him to an industrial school. Things keep falling apart for Francie in an Ireland of the late 1960s that is also undergoing an identity crisis and episodes of violence. An interesting note is Sinead O'Connor's appearance as the Virgin Mary in one of the boy's vivid hallucinations.