The Banshees of America

It was another fine week for the Irish in Hollywood, with Martin McDonagh’s latest movie joining "The Crying Game," "In the Name of the Father," "The Gangs of New York," and "Brooklyn," among others, as Irish stories that bedazzled Tinseltown and garnered Oscar nominations.

Now, maybe these showbiz folk can get to the bottom of precisely what "The Banshees of Inisherin" is about.

We’ve got these two lads, you see, stuck on this Irish island. They were once friends, but now they’re not. And there’s a sister, and a cop. And, of course, a donkey.

The next thing you know there are body parts a-flyin’!

What are we to make of all this?

It’s a story about America in 2023, obviously.

Think about all the people out there who are tangled up with each other. But shouldn’t be. But also can’t break things off.

Last Friday, Ronna McDaniel was again chosen to lead America’s conservatives as head of the Republican National Committee. 

The Texan is now the “longest serving leader of the Republican National Committee since the Civil War,” as the Associated Press noted.

America’s conservatives celebrated this milestone by continuing to rip each other to bloody shreds.

“Frustrated Republicans from state capitals to Capitol Hill to the luxury Southern California hotel where RNC members gathered this week are at odds over how to reverse six years of election disappointments,” the Associated Press added.

“And while there are many strong feelings, there is no consensus even among the fighting factions about the people, policies or political tactics they should embrace.”

One would think the crowd that proudly brands itself the patriotic “law-and-order” party could at least agree that ransacking the nation’s Capitol, and undermining the Democratic process, would kind of be a bad thing.

And some in the GOP feel this way.

They just don’t want to alienate, you know, the bloodthirsty mob.

These are the American Padraic Suilleabhains, played by Colin Farrell in "Banshees." Everything is telling them that it’s time to end this relationship. And they just won’t hear it.

The folks on the other side of the aisle have a similar problem. No blood has been spilled just yet. Which passes for great news these days.

Chuck Schumer, Nancy Pelosi, and Joe Biden have given something like 1,000 years of service to this nation. And maybe that’s the problem.

Not that they’re ancient relics, though they are. It’s also that they seem to get some energy boost from the young ones in their party. The twentysomethings at the barricades.

Perhaps you’ve heard, they make kind of a big deal out of pronouns. And other words. Words that may be offensive and words that, frankly, may not be offensive enough.

To the powers that be or the white supremacists, which are obviously and always the same, even though – obviously – America is going to be entirely non-white in a decade. Or next week.

And so these interesting but, um, unfocused ideas – because they come from the mouths of lefty babes – find their way to the party’s (very) elders.

And so a bunch of rich old white folks bravely speak out for poor young non-white folks. They see the world split very neatly between the saintly (immigrants and other “people of color,” and rich liberal people of non-color) and the evil (gun owners, non-liberal people of non-color).

It gets a little awkward talking about things like violent crime. These categories get a tad confusing, in terms of who to root for and against.

Things get much more clear when there are terrible mass shootings, say, in Monterey Park, California. Or gruesome episodes of police brutality, in, say, Memphis.

That’s when things are clear and simple. Right?

These are the American Colm Dohertys, played by Brendan Gleeson in "Banshees."

They have important points to make. And are willing to chop off body parts to sacrifice sanity, so long as you know they are right and righteous.

Everyone’s going on about Jenny the donkey in "Banshees," but the real character to watch, in terms of America’s future, might be the one played by Oscar nominee Barry Keoghan.

We may soon all end up like this poor lad.

(On Twitter and Instagram, @tomdeignan)

*This column first appeared in the February 1 edition of the weekly Irish Voice newspaper, sister publication to IrishCentral.