Synopsis
Black '47 (2018), directed by Lance Daly, is an Irish drama set during the Great Famine — watch it online on iFILM. Feeney, an Irish Ranger who has been fighting for the British Army in Asia, deserts and comes home. He finds his mother dead of starvation, his brother hanged for refusing to let bailiffs tear down the family cabin. Hugo Weaving, James Frecheville, Stephen Rea, Barry Keoghan, and Jim Broadbent make up the cast.
Feeney doesn't want justice. He goes through the people responsible — landlords, bailiffs, a magistrate — one by one. A pursuing force is sent after him that includes a British officer played by Weaving who served alongside Feeney and understands exactly how he operates. The backdrop is the winter of 1847: grain is being shipped out of Ireland while the population starves, and the evictions don't stop because people are dying.
The film is shot partly in the Irish language and structured like a revenge western, though it rarely gets mentioned in that company. Daly doesn't soften the historical record or offer a tidy resolution — which is exactly what makes it land. For anyone who wants a narrative film that takes the Famine seriously rather than using it as scenery, this is the one. Stream Black '47 (2018) online on iFILM.
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