Chris Andrews‘ directorial debut is a raw and tense tale of revenge and generational trauma, spiralling into ruthless violence that at times might feel too outdated in its brutalism.
I had the chance to catch Bring Them Down earlier this month during a press screening that, frankly, left a slightly bad aftertaste in my mouth. From the opening scene the film establishes itself as a heavy watch not very suitable for a 10 am screening. We’re first introduced to one of our two protagonists – Michael – who is driving through a sketchy country road with his mother next to him and his girlfriend at the back seat. We don’t really see him, yet his presence is palpable, as through the entire sequence the camera stays focused on his mother who is trying, as gently as possible, to share with him she’s moving out and is about to leave his father. From this moment, tension and dread become the driving force of the narrative that doesn’t let go until the very end of the film. The sequence escalates as Michael increases the speed and ends with a car crash. The story, then, picks up what is, probably, 20 years later when Michael, who is responsible for the death of his mother and the scarring of his former partner Caroline, has now taken over the family farm and lives in self-inflicted loneliness with his sick dad as an only human companion. After a misunderstanding, involving two rams, Michael is forced to face his “scarred” past as he comes in open confrontation with the neighbouring farmer and his son, who also happens to be the family of Michael’s ex-girlfriend. From there the film spirals into cold-blooded betrayal, misunderstandings caused by lack of communication and hasty decisions, fuelled by guilt and emotional manipulation.
The film is as cold and grim as its scenery, which often is a reflection of the inner isolation of each character like Caroline (played by Nora-Jane Noone), trapped in an unhappy marriage and her son Jack, marked by growing up in such an unhealthy environment, reeking of toxic masculinity. Apart from the cinematography, precisely the power dynamics between characters is another strong suit of the film which goes hand in hand with the other positive aspect – the acting. Every doubt concerning Christopher Abbott being an American is without substance since he does a rather impressive Irish accent that’s subtle and not over-the-top unlike other fellow Hollywood actors. His performance is gripping, layered and heavily relies on body language when lacking dialogue. An impressive bonus is he speaks solid Irish for a couple of brief moments and portrays it as authentically as possible.
On the same note, Colm Meaney who plays Abbott’s father and Nora-Jane Noone have a very strong presence even with the rather limited screen time they are given. As for Barry Keoghan, he once again adds a vulnerable and troubled character, struggling with social norms, under his belt. It’s not revolutionary or any different from his previous work, but is ultimately effective. The only issue with his casting is that makes the timeline slightly confusing as, supposedly, 20 years have passed since the opening of the film and Abbott’s character is supposed to be around 40 years old, which makes Keoghan’s character a teenager. Yet him being over 30 years old and looking the same age as Abbott slightly damages their dynamic despite both delivering strong performances.
Even without the casting issue, the nonlinear narrative structure allows to explore Abbott and Keoghan’s characters’ inner world separately while adding some more depth , yet it makes it slightly disjointed. This leads to the pacing dragging at times, however it never loses the attention of the audience because of the constant tense build-up of sombre ambiance.
And here comes my biggest concern with the whole film, this being the overwhelmingly explicit animal cruelty. A film like Bring Them Down is already brutal enough in its nature of revenge and grudge and in the way the story progresses that the last thing it needs is to justify its brutalism through graphic animal violence. Naturally the story revolving around shepherds would hint the inclusion of such matter, yet in a film produced so recently there’s no excuse for detailed gory slaughter of sheep or murder of a dog that adds nothing to the story, but is rather used as a shock factor to further emotionally manipulate the audience. The film would have been equally bleak even if those graphic shots were cut.
That being mentioned, let’s focus on the highlight of the film which is the use of Irish language as a narrative tool. It’s promising how Irish-produced projects have recently embraced the Irish language which boosts and encourages even more its use in local productions, but also generally adds to the popularisation of the language itself. Chris Andrews has cleverly used Gaeilge as a narrative tool to expose the true nature of its characters. Most of them are portrayed throughout the film as morally grey and their questionable actions are often blamed on the environment they’ve been exposed to. Abbott and Meaney’s characters speak only in Irish. Yet, it’s implied that the more negative characters, such as the father of Keoghan’s character, and who are more unscrupulous, do not understand nor speak Irish, portraying their disconnection from their surroundings.
Overall, Bring Them Down is a bold and skilled directorial debut that despite engaging enough, falls in the trap of its own viciousness.
