The Plot: Rural Ireland. Shepherding has run in Michael’s (Christopher Abbott) family for a long, long time. It’s been passed down from generation to generation, but he will be the last in line when his father Ray (Colm Meaney) passes on. Michael keeps to himself, the result of a dark secret he holds close to his chest. He’s generally friendly with his neighbours Caroline (Nora-Jane Noone) and her son Jack (Barry Keoghan). However, Caroline’s husband Gary (Paul Ready) is less friendly about sharing the hill with Michael, leading to a feud over rams that will end up with the two of them ramming each other head on…
The Verdict: The nature of family feuds is that they have to get a whole lot worse before they can even get a little bit better. Escalation happens far too quickly and a resolution happens far too slowly due to a lack of communication, empathy and understanding… often with drastic results for everyone involved. That would appear to be the central message behind Bring Them Down, an Irish-set and made story that has a deliberate Biblical angle to it. Having worked on a number of shorts, it’s an auspicious feature debut for British director Chris Andrews. He wandered the hills of his native Cumbria, observing shepherds and researching how rural feuds can flare up between apparent neighbours and how calling the police is never an option. Internal strife is settled the old way, the hard way. Due to financing reasons, the story has been relocated to Ireland but has been given a fully Irish angle including occasional scenes as Gaeilge for added authenticity.
When tensions rise up, Michael suggests to his father Ray that they bring the rams (the ‘them’ of the title) down from the hill but Ray retorts that they haven’t done that for 500 years in the kind of Irish that would suggest he was there to see it way back when. Andrews’ script with Jonathan Hourigan is a thing of startling starkness. With dialogue stripped back to the essentials, the script doubles down on placing its characters within an open, roving environment – houses, kitchens, hills, fields, cars – but it still feels like an oppressive space where the camera doesn’t leave its confines for the outer world. This is all the world (i.e. the Wicklow Mountains) that Andrews needs to ratchet up the tension, explore toxic male rage and, unusually, characters being courteous after stabbing each other. Winston Churchill once said that the last war between gentlemen was the American Civil War, but maybe it continues on here in spirit at least.
The film has the trappings of an Irish western. It occasionally recalls Straw Dogs (itself a western re-adapted for contemporary times) in depicting rural violence between neighbours and the corrosive effect of generational trauma. Andrews has described Michael as a character who is afraid of his own anger, which is an apt description for a character who worryingly bottles everything up and is unable to process it in a more diplomatic manner. Christopher Abbott does a commendable job of internalising that guilt, while having a haunted look about him. This is neatly balanced out by Nora-Jane Noone, who brings common sense to the story while standing on her own as a woman caught in the crossfire. The stand-out here though is Barry Keoghan, who brings an edge of unpredictability and tortured vulnerability to his character. He does these kinds of roles so well and is ideal casting, shifting audience sympathies back and forth for a character whose motivations are often uncertain.
Bring Them Down is a sharply-observed piece of filmmaking that has none of the hallmarks of a director trying to find his feet on his first feature. Andrews is ready to go from the get-go. The script says exactly what it wants to say, the characters are well-drawn, the performances are fine-tuned and the environment of the film is distinctive and a character in itself. Worth seeking out.
Rating: 4 / 5
Review by Gareth O’Connor
In short: Sharply observed
Directed by Chris Andrews.
Starring Christopher Abbott, Barry Keoghan, Colm Meaney, Paul Ready, Nora-Jane Noone.