The first thirty minutes of this film is very good in setting out the core of the story and the concluding ten minutes is also good. However, the middle section is a bit plodding and drags. Overall the film is well acted and very atmospheric. I saw this film at the Glasgow Film Festival.
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pwmoores-494443 March 2020
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billcr1213 February 2022Monster is told in the Irish language with English subtitles. Those of us of Irish-Catholic descent are familiar with the Great Hunger. A man is forced by circumstances to hide from his British rulers. The man lives a harsh life, subsisting mostly on fish. The story is tragic but necessary. One of the best foreign language movies of 2021.
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CinemaSerf24 January 2023"Colmán Sharkey" (a strong performance from Dónall Ó Héalai) lives peaceably with his wife and young son on the West Coast of Ireland. They live a pretty subsistence existence, supplementing their basic potato farming with some fishing and a thriving little poteen business. Their livelihoods become doubly blighted, however, upon the arrival of "Patsy" (Dara Devaney) - a naval deserter; and with the bug that ruins their crops. It's at this point they get a visit from the agents for the English landlord to collect the rents, so "Colmán" decides they ought to go visit the man - with whom he is on fairly reasonable terms - to renegotiate the proposed increases. It is at this meeting that "Patsy" goes a bit off piste, and carnage ensues. The film now jumps forward a few years and we find "Colmán" sleeping in a cave, living a solitary existence, surviving on fish and there is no sign of his family. What happened to him in the intervening years is relayed to us via his gradual adoption of the abandoned "Kitty" (Saise Ní Chuinn) and their struggle for survival. The story is actually pretty poignant at the beginning, and the first half hour offers us an insight into just how hand-to-mouth their lives were in the mid-19th century, but that potency falls away as we are presented with some beautiful, but rather repetitive scenery and scenes in his boat - and the pace becomes just a little too depressed. The imagery is gorgeous, sometimes bleak, and the audio is really effective too - the constant wind howling, the sea lapping - it all contributes hugely to this sensual feast of a film. The ending is too rushed, and that's a shame - but this film is still pretty stunning to look at and to listen too; though maybe a little more meat on the bones of the characterisations wouldn't have gone amiss. Try to see it on a big screen if you can.
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Pairic14 November 2021Arracht: 1845, the potato blight is on the way, it has a distinctive smell. Colmán (Dónall Ó Héalaí) is a tenant farmer, a fisherman, a poiín distiller, a folk healer. The sight of a Galway hooker boat with it's red sail, small isles in the background the sun on the sea; building a stone wall, always plenty of stones in the fields of Connemara. Drinking the poitín, Colman avoids it, eating the mackerel and potatoes. But a dark is approaching, not just the potato blight but the landlord wants to increase the rent. Patsy (Dara Devaney) a deserter from the navy has a run in with bailiff when he comes to Colmán's house. Colmán goes to the landlord in an attempt to persuade him to lower the rents, bringing Patsy with him to apologise to the bailiff. The landlord is unmoved but mayhem results when Patsy reveals his dark side.
We see the result of the Great Famine, Colmán's family are dead, many perish from disease as well as from starvation, a pestilence and a blight are upon the land. Colmán has been in hiding for two years on the islet where he kept his poitín still. Some great shots of the narrow inlet leading to Colmán's cave where he hears the voices of his dead wife and son. Venturing to the mainland occasionally, helping with his folk medicines he meets a young girl, Kitty (Saise Ní Chuinn), who he nurses back to heath. Their developing father/daughter relationship fills out the second half of the film. But there are a few plot twists and the narrative is infused with dark events. People who are hungry will act abnormally, the true horror of the Famine is illustrated through this and the sporadic finding of bodies by Colmán, these were all locals he knew. The Great Famine didn't just happen: it was imposed upon the people. Great performances by Ó Héalaí, Devaney and especially by Saise Ní Chuinn. Directed and written by Tomás Ó Súilleabháin. In Irish with English subtitles. 9/10. -
avindugunasinghe18 February 2023It's a historical drama about a present we are still stuck and live in. Interesting use of special effects flickering through the memories of a mourning father and taking the dark gloominess of the moss covered coast mountains. Splendid use of audio effects setting the atmosphere. Cast put up a remarkable performance with their assignments. It's a quiet story with an intriguing progression and a beautiful conclusion. A tragedy that changed the course of a country's culture is briefed and signalled well with the brief fateful encounter between the landlord and peasant. Monster is a tale of survival that has beauty worth appreciation.
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ewansonnycallan13 December 2021This film has a has a great start, and a brilliant ending.
This film is based at the start of the irish famine in the 1800s, and shows just how desperate people were from starvation!
The dialogue is in irish (with English subtitles) and in English for scenes with English landlords. I think thats another reason that this film is fantastic, it's in its native tongue, which most irishmen/women spoke at the time. I'm giving this a 10/10 for its excellent cinematography, for its brilliant acting and for its historic accuracy on the famine ! A must watch. -
deloudelouvain30 March 2023Arracht (or Monster for the English title) is an entirely (well almost) Irish spoken drama. For some reason I thought Irish would have words that sounded similar to English but to my surprise there were none, it's a totally different language. The story itself wasn't bad but sometimes it was a bit too slow paced, some scenes were just dragged out a bit. The acting wasn't bad tough. Good cinematography and photography in a rather dark colour that accentuated the feeling of misery that is present in the entire plot. I watched it once and I won't watch it again. Good enough movie but not something I need to watch again.
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podzjoyce19 February 2023I found this film moving, it really got to the point and shows the life that Irish people lead in them times and in my eyes it is one of the best made famine era story's that has been told, acting was brilliant, well directed and great story would love to see more of these sort of period dramas showing the hardships of Irish people true the struggles of been suppressed for over 700 years that is not taught in schools in other nations eg Cornwall's conquest of Ireland, the battle of the Boyne just to name a few. It's great to hear our native tongue sound so beautiful in such a dark time in our history but made the film much more believable.
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jordondave-280857 January 2024(2019) Arracht/ Monster (In Irish with English subtitles) HISTORICAL FICTION/ DRAMA
Written and directed by Tom Sullivan depicting the famine era. It has the Sharkey brothers making Irish moonshine from an undisclosed location before the three of them row back to the mainland. At this point, I was not quite sure who the star was until we find out more about a farmer and fisherman, Colmán Sharkey (Dónall Ó Héalai) as he lives with his wife, Maggie (Elaine O'Dwyer) and their son, Dónal (Dudura O'Gionnáin) who appear to be the man in charge of the family household. For some odd reason, the family decide to harbor a fugitive of the navy, Patsy Kelly (Dara Devaney). All is okay, until the landlord sends his two collectors, Séamus (Seán T. Ó Meallaigh) and Dan (Conal O'Céidigh) armed with rifles to collect the rent. Except that Colmán with his brother, Seán Sharkey (Eoin O'Dubhghaill) and Patsy Kelly standing outside confronting them, Colmán refuses to pay them the rate hikes. For an unexpected confrontation, Patsy manages to grab Séamus's rifle with Colmán demanding Patsy to to return the rifle back to him. Colmán then requesting instead to speak with the landlord himself as their is an upcoming famine. And by the time they reach to the landlord's estate, greeted by Kate (Elise Brennan) who is actually Séamus's sister. Dan and Séamus then lead them to speak with the landlord himself as the intention was to convince him not to raise the rents of the entire village. -
westsideschl15 November 2021The start of the Irish disease potato famine in 1845 reaching its peak in 1847 where millions died & millions fled, many to the Americas where they faced discrimination. This dramatization starts with a few Irish asking their English landlord not to raise the rents as the people are starving. Subsequently an adversarial relationship develops & escalates. Titled (in my opinion inaccurately) as "Monster", but in Irish "Arracht". Some of the period Irish dialogue was hard to understand; subtitling helped somewhat.