IT IS 1845, the first year of the potato blight, the first year of The Famine. In Connemara, Colmán Sharkey ekes out a living as a fisherman. He is isolated from his community, except from his brother Patsy, a soldier who has returned home.
As the crops rot in the fields, and the people wonder what will they eat to sustain them through the winter, Colmán and Patsy go to the landlord to request a stay on the rent increases Colmán knows, if enforced, will destroy the already fragile and poverty stricken community.
Their request falls on deaf ears and Patsy's subsequent actions set Colmán on a path that will take him to the edge of survival - and sanity. Only when he encounters an abandoned young girl does Colmán's resolve lift.
This is Arracht, the Irish language, County Galway made feature film, written and directed by Tom Sullivan, and starring Connemara born actor Dónall Ó Héalai in the lead role. The film is being released by Breakout Pictures, and will be in cinemas across Ireland from Friday October 15.
Arracht premiered to critical acclaim at the prestigious Tallinn Black Nights Festival in 2019; won Best Irish Film and Best Actor (Ó Héalaí ) at the Virgin Media Dublin International Film Festival; was screened at the 2020 Galway Film Fleadh; and was Ireland’s entry for the Oscars’ Best International Feature Film category; but the Covid pandemic prevented a general release until now.
For Tom Sullivan, that release has been a long time coming. “It feels great, it feels surreal,” he tells me during our Tuesday afternoon interview. “It felt like it was never going to happen, but finally it has.”
Connemara is my muse
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Tom is from Dublin, but has strong connections with Galway, specifically Connemara, and visits during childhood left a deep and lasting impression on him, and his imagination.
“My partner of 20 years, Maggie Madden, is from Galway and I went to UCG where I studied earth science, but I have a long connection with Connemara,” says Tom. “The Irish language school I went to in Tallaght was set up by two people from An Cheathrú Rua in the 1980s, and they used to bring the class there, so us little Dublin urchins were introduced very early to Connemara.
“I’ve been immersed in the Connemara landscape since I was 10. I think it changed the way my brain works. I’ve been drawn to it physically and as a storyteller. It’s a bit of a muse.”
An inspiration, and a starting point for what would become Arracht, lay in Cormac McCarthy’s short, but unforgettable novel, The Road.
“I wanted to do something in the post-apocalyptic genre, and with my ties to Connemara, I felt the landscape complimented that. I had an idea of a fisherman, ostracised by his community, who had exiled himself on a small island, and was dealing with that trauma. From there, the Famine walked into the script. Anytime I’m in Connemara, it feels like I can reach out and touch those ghosts, I feel they are very clear.”
A Galway cast
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Tom is full of praise for Dónall Ó Héalai in the lead role of Colmán Sharkey. “I wrote it with Dónall in mind,” he says. “I knew he would bring the discipline required for this role. He went method and lost four stone to show the body of a person living in such times, as the film is showing the Famine through him physically. He raised the bar for everyone.”
Along with Ó Héalai, Arracht boasts a very strong Galway cast, including Pádraic Breathach, Eoin Ó Dubhgaill, Diarmuid de Faoite, Conall Ó Céidigh, Siobhán O'Kelly, and newcomer Saise Ní Chuinn in the role of Kitty, the child that changes Colmán’s life.
“We had great fun auditioning throughout the schools in Connemara in 2018,” says Tom. “She’s actually the grand-daughter of filmmaker Bob Quinn, which was a pure coincidence. Her character, initially, was weak, but Saise is a very tough and resilient child, so I had to change how I thought about Kitty. I made her stronger and she draws Colmán back to life. I think she is going to have a great career.”
The trauma of the Famine
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Arracht comes at a moment when The Famine is being strongly engaged with in a manner not seen for a long time. In 2017 singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke released the acclaimed album, Chronicles Of The Great Irish Famine, while in 2018 there was the film Black 47, set during the worst year of the catastrophe.
Despite this, singer Sinead O’Connor once suggested that The Famine is something Ireland has still not dealt with or faced up to, both in its immediate impacts and longer term legacy. It is a view with which Tom concurs.
“There is a dearth of conversation in film on this subject,” he says. “It has been dealt with in literature, but not as much as you would think. I’m drawn to stories of trauma, and when a trauma goes unspoken it’s wounds run deep, and I believe that, as a nation, we are only starting to become aware of what has happened to us. It was the beginning of a long line of secrets and secrecy that would eventually enable the Catholic Church to do what it did in terms of the institutional abuses and society not talking about them for so long. If Ireland is a young nation, then the Famine is our childhood trauma.”
The future of Irish film
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With Arracht (and another recently Galway made film as Gaeilge, Foscadh ), it seems Irish language film is having a real moment. While Tom admits that making films in Irish is “not the reason I get out of bed”, he feels a strong connection with language as an artist and storyteller.
“The language is a way into a deeper, more soulful way of storytelling,” he says. “There is something in the language that is special. I think it is a good time for Irish language film, and that’s due to TG4, CGI, Screen Ireland, and Cine4, which is giving filmmakers real opportunities. Artistically, Irish is a very rich resource, and I’d love to see some of our more established directors working in it.”
With films like Arracht, Foscadh, Calm With Horses, Wolfwalkers, and others, Irish film in recent years is having, if not a ‘golden age’, then certainly a coming of age.
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“I think coming of age is correct,” says Tom. “I think we’re only getting started. We had Neil Jordan and Jim Sheridan knocking it out of the park in the 1980s, but then we had a fallow period, but we’re back, and I think it has returned better. There are people like me, a working class man from Tallagh - filmmaking would once not have seemed open to me - who now feel like they can make films. I also teach film at Griffith College, and the young people there, I can say the future looks bright.”
In advance of its nationwide opening, the Pálás Cinema will hold an advance screening of Arracht on Wednesday October 13 at 6.30pm, followed by a Q&A with Tom Sullivan. Booking is via palas.ie. See also www.tomsullivan.ie
