For the past eight days, the 49th annual Toronto International Film festival has been running smoothly. Countless nations from around the globe have put their best foot forward to show the world what their film industry has to offer. One of those countries happens to be one very close to my heart: Ireland. As a first generation American, with an Irish mother, I was extremely excited to see Ireland's contribution to TIFF this year: Christopher Andrews' Bring Them Down. But upon leaving the theater this afternoon I couldn't help but feel disappointed, uncomfortable, and even a little horrified...
Bring Them Down is an all new thriller film by director, Christopher Andrews, serving as the filmmaker's feature debut. It tells the story of two rival shepherding families and the extreme lengths they go to get back at one another. This ranges from verbal altercations to full on murder. The cast consists of Chrisopher Abbott, Nora-Jane Noone, Colm Meaney, and Barry Keoghan, who has had a particularly busy year.
I went into Bring Them Down with high expectations. the past few years have been exceptionally great years for the country's film industry. I had no idea what to expect from new director, Christopher Andrews, but needless to say I was not at all prepared for what I was about to see.
Let's start out with the good. Bring Them Down offers a lot of heart-pounding suspense, especially when paired with it's bass-heavy soundtrack. It also does not have a single weak performance throughout the small cast. Lead actor, Christopher Abbott gives a particularly impressive performance considering that he is not Irish yet spends most of his screen time speaking the country's native language. In fact, the best part of Bring Them Down is just how much it includes Irish dialogue. There are very few films out there that incorporate the language and even fewer of those films are mainstream. I'll admit it was difficult to not get emotional hearing Irish, a language that has been fighting to stay alive for centuries at one of the world's largest film festivals. I hope it continues to make on-screen appearances in the future.
In terms of writing, I would compare Bring Them Down to a much grittier Banshees of Inisherin. There are clear themes of toxic masculinity, trauma, and good ol' Irish stubbornness.
Unfortunately, that's about where the praise ends. By the time the credits rolled, I couldn't help from cringing at what I'd seen. The film's third act is genuinely upsetting and I struggle to recall a time I was more uncomfortable in a theater. When it comes to graphic content, I've handled it all. I've braved the likes of Cannibal Holocaust, Pink Flamingos, Antichrist, the whole nine yards. To this day, my favorite movie of all time is A Clockwork Orange. The one thing I cannot tolerate on screen is animal cruelty and Bring Them Down is full to the brim with it.
The most infamous scene is during the third act where Barry Keoghan's character slaughters an entire flock of sheep belonging to the main character. Only, he doesn't kill them, he slices off their legs one by one to sell for a profit. This leads to the main character having to commit a series of mercy killings. While there isn't a gratuitous amount of visual gore, it's the sounds that make this scene truly haunting. The shrieks the rams let out as they're being mutilated chilled me to the bone. At one point I turned to my left and saw a group of people get out of their seats and leave the auditorium while covering their ears with their hands. There were also audible gasps when the main character got his ear blown off with a shotgun, complete with realistic physical gore.
So why does The Banshees of Inisherin work but this doesn't? Well, there are a few reasons, namely subtlety. There is virtually nothing subtle about this film, every point being made has to be done with gruesome violence brutality. I would also point to tone, The Banshees of Inisherin is for the most part, a depressing film, but there is quite a bit of comedy intertwined to keep the film from being downright exhausting to watch. Bring Them Down is one hundred minutes of non-stop, unrelenting misery. There is nothing to break up the tension and at a certain point, watching it feels like work.
Bring Them Down is certainly an ambitious film, and anyone who manages to create a new, original feature deserves to have their efforts commended. Especially when you choose to showcase an underrepresented language to the world. But the film is way too rough around the edges, and its lack of subtlety keeps it from reaching its full potential. To save yourself some distress, I would skip Bring Them Down.
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