The trailer for the hotly anticipated Irish movie Black 47 has been released, with the film hitting the big screen in September.
Black 47 is a revenge drama set in 1847 – in the middle of the Great Famine in Ireland.
It tells the story of Feeney, an Irish ranger who has been fighting abroad for the British Army.
He abandons his posts and returns to his family. Even though he has spent several years abroad in foreign warzones he is shocked to see the suffering and degradation he returns to in his own country.
His mother has starved to death and his brother has been hanged by the British. He vows to avenge their deaths.
The film is set against the backdrop of the terrible suffering and desperation felt by the Irish as well as the heartless neglect of the British government.
The British decided it was more important to keep the economy moving than to provide help to the millions of Irish who were starving to death.
British Secretary of the Treasury Charles Trevelyan even stated that the Famine was a ‘mechanism for removing surplus population’.
Even though a series of crop failures did naturally occur, the action – or inaction – of the British government has led many to believe that a more appropriate name for the events between 1854-52 would be ‘The Irish Genocide’.
Black 47 promises to be a must watch movie for anyone with an interest in Irish history and has received several glowing reviews from critics, following its screening at the Berlin Film Festival in February.
It stars James Frecheville, Hugo Weaving, Barry Keoghan, Jim Broadbent and Stephen Rea, and is directed by Lance Daly.
Take a look at the trailer below.
Written by Michael Kehoe @michaelcalling
