Artificial belief in The Banshees of Inisherin

(Lots of spoilers ahead)

I know the movie is an allegory to the Irish Civil War, and it’s brilliant at that. But the philosophical elements of the story here are even more impressive.

In the movie, there’s a contrast between belief systems, and an ultimate absurdist undertone that makes both systems look ridiculous.

On one hand, there’s Colm, who is clearly operating under a Tolstoy type belief system, where removing life’s dull and simple pleasures is necessary to achieve meaning. This isn’t hidden at all, with the finger chopping being directly cut from Tolstoy’s short story Father Sergius.

But this isn’t a film supporting Tolstoy’s philosophy. While at first, Colm finds peace and purpose, it quickly fades into a dead donkey, regret, and apparent loneliness.

If look to Pádraic we see someone much closer to a Greek ideas of being cosmopolitan - living to be connected to our fellow man. He’s simple - and all he needs to be happy is to live life with what he loves.

Yet his simple Socratic system of living quickly falls apart when he loses all things he loves. He has no other reason to see the world in such simple terms and turns to revenge.

In reality, the contrasts in all systems of belief create a movie about artificial belief. Inisherin, (not a real place), is an island that showcases the fragility of belief systems and is most closely spotlights existential ideas and Nietzsche and absurdist ideas of Camus.

The concept of the Banshee is the clearest way to show this. Mrs. McCormick is painted as the metaphorical Banshee in the island. But the reality is she’s just an old woman, and in her they create an artificial banshee that doesn’t exist. She represents the real underlying belief system of the island (death, loneliness and nothingness) which is omnipresent among a backdrop of artificial belief systems. Everything else is a way to escape.

This is why Siobhan runs away. She’s the only one smart enough to see that this loneliness is the ultimate fate of everyone on the island, regardless of what you do or believe.

The movie is easily one of my favorites of the year.

Submitted February 26, 2023 at 11:20PM by Decumulate https://ift.tt/FN5bqov