Warning: Contains spoilers for The Banshees of Inisherin!While Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin isn’t the director’s most straightforward work, some background on its period setting makes the movie easier to understand. Historical comedy The Banshees of Inisherin sees Colin Farrell's good-natured, but dim-witted Pádraic accidentally starting a rapidly escalating, darkly comical war of wills with his former best friend, Brendan Gleeson’s taciturn musician Colm. However, The Banshees of Inisherin becomes harder to decode when the movie’s focus strays outside Pádraic and Colm’s feud. The Banshees of Inisherin setting did wonders for the film, as the underseen 2022 film scooped up a Golden Globe for Best Film — Musical or Comedy, and an impressive nine Oscar nominations.

The Banshees of Inisherin never explains why Colm titled his song “The Banshees of Inisherin,” nor whether the creepy crone Mrs. McCormack is supernatural or simply strange. While The Banshees of Inisherin’s ending does bring Colm and Pádraic’s story to a natural close, the dénouement doesn’t explain why Dominic took his own life, whether the pair’s battle will continue, or why Colm got sick of Pádraic’s company in the first place. However, some insight into the real-life historical The Banshees of Inisherin setting clarifies a lot of these lingering questions.

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Banshees Of Inisherin Is Set In 1923

Colin Farrell and Kerry Condon in The Banshees of Inisherin

As clarified by a calendar seen onscreen early in the movie, The Banshees of Inisherin setting is in 1923. This is important as, unlike McDonagh’s earlier Aran Islands trilogy (The Cripple of Inishman, The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and the unpublished The Banshees of Inisheer), The Banshees of Inisherin isn’t set on a real island. “Inisherin” translates to “the island of Ireland,” and The Banshees of Inisherin is set during the latter half of the Irish Civil War. The Banshees of Inisherin’s title change proves the movie could be read as an allegory for the Irish Civil War, something reaffirmed by its pointed setting.

Not only does The Banshees of Inisherin take place during an Irish Civil War, the characters repeatedly acknowledge this in-universe. A repugnant local policeman is delighted to be executing prisoners of war although, notably, he doesn’t care which side of the war they were fighting for, while Pádraic simply states “good luck to you, whatever it is you’re fighting over,” when he hears cannon fire on the mainland. For the remote, isolated community of Inisherin, the Civil War isn’t a momentous historical occasion but rather background noise, while the war between Colm and Pádraic ends up becoming a comparatively dramatic struggle with life-or-death stakes.

The True Story Behind Banshees Of Inisherin's Time Period

Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin

The Banshees of Inisherin setting means Martin McDonagh’s latest movie takes place in a time when Ireland’s population was split by a bloody conflict. Although the Civil War was a tragedy, the conflict did not uproot the Catholic Church’s overwhelming influence over Irish society, and the war was eventually won by the pro-treaty forces in large part thanks to military support received from the British government. This is reflected in the events of The Banshees Of Inisherin, wherein Colm and Pádraic lose fingers, a beloved pet, a home, and a lifelong friendship during their fight while an amoral, corrupt priest and a pedophilic, fascistic police officer face no consequences.

Explosions can be heard from the coast in The Banshees of Inisherin setting, which takes place approximately one year into the Irish Civil War. The civil war began after the Irish War of Independence, which resulted in Ireland becoming a free state, but still a part of the larger British Commonwealth. The civil war broke out when some soldiers who fought with the Irish Republican Army believed that the treaty was a fair deal, while many others were vehemently against it, wanting to be free from Britain as a whole. The result of this conflict saw people who previously fought together now fighting against one another, something thematically relevant to The Banshees of Inisherin.

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The Irish Civil War lasted from June 1922 to May 1923, and The Banshees of Inisherin setting is a perfect backdrop for the story of Pádraic and Colm. Their feud, like the civil war, is a violent fight between brothers. While Pádraic and Colm's fight does have some logic to it, the reasoning behind it actually has to do with their own deep history with one another, adding a tragic note. Mrs. McCormick's warnings of death being on the horizon aren't just about Pádraic and Colm, but the explosions on the horizon that can literally be seen. All in all, the fact that The Banshees of Inisherin setting is against the backdrop of a civil war only adds to the thematic significance of the entire tale.

Colm And Pádraic's Conflict Is A Civil War Metaphor

Colin Farrell as Padraic in The Banshees of Inisherin

Ultimately, Martin McDonagh's The Banshees of Inisherin as a whole is a metaphor for the Irish Civil War. Pádraic and Colm start off in the film with an established history as best friends and drinking buddies, almost akin to brothers considering how unpopulated the island of Inisherin is. While the outside conflict in The Banshees of Inisherin setting seems so far away, its roots run through these two characters as they immediately turn from friend to foe.

The lack of clarity that Pádraic faces as to what made his friend suddenly dislike him mirrors the sad truth of the two sides of the Civil War, brother against brother, friend against friend. There's too much history between the two characters for a clean break, and in this spirit, Colm's escalation of violence seems inevitable. The gunfire and explosions heard from the island are auditory representations of the feud between Colm and Pádraic (Collin Farrell), and Martin McDonagh's backdrop of the Irish Civil War in The Banshees of Inisherin setting is the perfect metaphor for the heart of the film.

The Banshees Of Inisherin Oscar Nominations Explained

Colin Farrell and Barry Keoghan in The Banshees of Inisherin

Historical drama-comedy The Banshees of Inisherin's deep themes with regard to its setting surely resonated with audiences, as the Martin McDonagh movie has been nominated for nine Academy Awards in the 2023 Oscars. The film has some steep competition to go up against, with major players like The Fabelmans, Tár, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Triangle of Sadness, and All Quiet on the Western Front being contenders in the same categories. The Banshees of Inisherin got Colin Farrell a Best Actor nomination, and Martin McDonagh a Best Director and Best Original Screenplay nomination. In addition, Brendan Gleeson and Barry Keoghan were both nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award, while Kerry Condon got the honor of being nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar. Finally, The Banshees of Inisherin was also nominated for Best Picture, Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.

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