# Butcher Boy, The (1997)

### reviewed by
Ted Prigge

    THE BUTCHER BOY (1998)
    A Film Review by Ted Prigge
    Copyright 1998 Ted Prigge

Director: Neil Jordan Writers: Neil Jordan and Patrick McCabe (based on the novel by McCabe) Starring: Eamonn Owens, Stephen Rea, Fiona Shaw, Alan Boyle, Aisling O'Sullivan, Andrew Fullerton, Sinéad O'Connor, Patrick McCabe, Ian Hart, Ardal O'Hanlon, Milo O'Shea

Neil Jordan's "The Butcher Boy" is the tale of a young lad from a small town in Ireland during the early 60s who has a very traumatic childhood where every single thing that probably could go wrong goes wrong, and he begins to take it out on society. For Jordan, it's a return to some of his more Irish roots after hitting big with "The Crying Game" and experimenting with Hollywood with "Interview with the Vampire" and "Michael Collins"; for us, it means a return or introduction to elements from other films that have come before and have actually fared better.

First off, "The Butcher Boy" is a very odd, eccentric film, and watching it, I could see how in about 20 years, this film will have a avid cult following. It has a wildness to it that will be appreciated by those who enjoy surreal and interesting ways in which films are presented, and will probably even be dubbed "brilliant" by a couple groups. However, "The Butcher Boy" is not the amazing film it really sets itself out to be, probably because it's: a) unoriginal, and b) doesn't really dive into its topic the way it should.

The film's focus is on childhood and the ways that what we experience when we are children has a mighty affect on us for the rest of our lives. The focus is on Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens, in a stunning debut), who's the bottom of the lot: he's a bully, he comes from a bad home, and he's just generally a jerk. His dad (Stephen Rea, who's been in most of Jordan's flicks) is "the town's best drinker," and his mom (Aisling O'Sullivan) is about four flews over the cuckoo's nest. In fact, one day, Francie comes home to find her trying to tie a noose and hang herself.

But Francie is able to escape this trauma with his one friend, Joe (Alan Boyle), who plays games and steals stuff with him. We see that the only way he can escape is through this, and also by watching old action shows on TV like "The Lone Ranger" and reading comic books. He also picks on a young peer of his, Philip Nugent (Andrew Fullerton), and steals his comic books and whatnot because, hey, the boy is a wimp. I mean, the boy takes piano lessons, for christ's sake!

It's Philip's mother, referred to as simply "Mrs. Nugent" (Fiona Shaw) who becomes the object of Francie's hatred. To him, she's everything that's wrong with the world: she's a snob, speaks with a delicate British accent, and seems to delight in torturing him by making him feel bad because of who he is. She's the scapegoat for all his problems, and it's only appropriate because the 60s, as well as the 40s and 50s, were when scapgoating was like a worldwide fad.

The entire film is told from the perspective of Francie as a middle-aged man (played by Stephen Rea again, but with some red hair dye so you don't get confused), who tells it with a nostalgic distancing that allows him to stay above it, but still get involved with the storyline because he still understands what he was thinking at the time. We get the feeling that though he's still an adult and it's been rougly 30 to 40 years since the events occurred that he's still the same kind of person, just a little wiser and with a couple more wrinkles. But he's still Francie Brady.

Jordan takes these ideas and actually runs with it for awhile, and then begins to meander around a lot. Francie's behavior winds him in a juvenile delinquint home, where he's preyed on by a hilariously perverted pedophile priest (played by Durand-Durand himself, Milo O'Shea), and then is zipped around in the storyline before he's brought back for la grande finale, which brings it right back to its focus. Episodic storylines work if the episodes build on one another, but this one actually becomes redundant for an hour chunk of itself, and then for the last half hour, builds on this.

It would also help if this film was even more original. The film blatantly lifts from several films, most notably two great cult favorites: Truffaut's "The 400 Blows" and Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange." From "The 400 Blows," it lifts the whole idea of a bully-like boy protagonist, as well as the somewhat incompetent parents (I'll say). From "A Clockwork Orange"...well, the narration which brings the audience in and makes it more of a story instead of distancing us from it, and, well, the basic premise of getting back at a society which is pretty inadequate which dealing with criminals and basically everyone else. Not only this, but the film uses these like they were original concepts, trying to be as great as them. Sorry, Neil: ain't gonna happen.

But now for some positive remarks: Jordan is very competent in creating the feel of the 60s in Ireland, and pretty much everywhere else. We see lots of talk about nuclear holocaust, and it actually seems like the world could end any minute. And he is able to create a very great feeling of being a kid in this time period, including some really nifty surreal montages using kid's point of view, and even digging deep into and exposing the way that kids are taught about violence and hatred through some of the material they are presented, like comic books.

The film is also interestingly directed by Jordan, who does lots more with the weird camera movements and whatnot that make this technically great. He also gets a lot out of the music by Eliot Goldenthal, who does some cool work along with placing some interesting tunes on the soundtrack, including a couple Kurt Weill songs, and even some groovy arrangements of classics and standards (I loved the modern-day version of Tchaikovsky's "March" from his Nutcracker Suite). Even if it's not as great as the films it rips off, it's gonna be a cult classic nevertheless.

This is where the film works, and since this is what it was aiming for, we get an understanding that Jordan was not just trying to tell a cool story so that he can make a cult film, but is able to show that what occurs in childhood and adolescence really does affect who you are as an adult. In some parts of the film, we see Francie talking to a vision of the Madonna (played by none other than Sinéad O'Connor, avec hair), who comforts him in some of his more traumatic episodes of his life. And then when he's older and out, we see him talking to her again. There are parts of childhood we never really get over, and it doesn't matter if we're the town bully or not; we'll always be the same person. And by the end we understand not only this, but why kids often become these so-called "horrible" people.

    MY RATING (out of 4): ***

Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/

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