THE BUTCHER BOY
"The Butcher Boy" is a dark comic fable about an emotionally damaged boy who numbs his psychic pain by tuning out the unpleasantness in his life. Francie Brady’s most harrowing experiences at the hands of his family and their betters are spun into a fanciful tale told in the guise of an adult voice that represents his fractured alter ego. Francie Brady has learned to cope. His speech is a mixture of comic book dialogue, TV catch phrases, and Irish Blarney. He lives in a make believe world with its own set of rules. There is no guilt or moral retribution. People exist for him to manipulate, or terrorize. His only friend, Joey, becomes more distant with each successive savage escapade. Francie bullies the new kid on the block and the boy’s mother, Mrs. Nugent, comes to his house to put him in his place. His father beats him and turns on his mother, the one person Francie loves more than anything in the world. Mrs. Nugent calls them pigs, but in Francie’s world, she is the pig. Pigs squeal, and squealers must pay.
Writer/director Neil Jordan has created an outrageous blend of farce and fantasy, that straddles a thin line between despair and hope. No matter how bad things get, Francie Brady always bounces back. Skewed visions of the Blessed Virgin save him from the mundane tasks of a reformatory and give him solace in the absence of his mother. Finally, he is entrusted to the care of a demented priest whose impropriety becomes Francie’s salvation. Francie is released with the understanding that he will not squeal. If there is one thing Francie is not, it’s a squealer. Thank God for The Blessed Virgin!
Jordan and Patrick McCabe, the author and co-screenwriter of "The Butcher Boy", have fashioned a script that peels away each vestige of Francie’s reality piece by piece from the dissolution of his family to the rejection of his best friend. Each betrayal begets a reaction. Each reaction begets an act of consequence. Each consequence is more outrageous than the last, and ultimately more violent than anything that comes before it. The writers have given "The Butcher Boy" a sense of time and place by drawing parallels between President Kennedy’s Cuban Missile Crisis in the early sixties to Francie who could go off like a nuclear explosion at any minute, just like the ones he sees on TV. Both would be inescapable.
Newcomer Eamonn Owens imbues Francie with a beguiling charm that makes his unspeakable acts of horror all the more shocking. Stephen Rea is perfect as the father lost in an alcoholic haze who blames Francie for his troubles. His Da has one memory of a happier time at the shore that turns out to be as mythical as the world Francie created for himself. The revelation is one of the most heartbreaking moments in "The Butcher Boy". Eamonn Owens makes us believe and care.
The most disturbing aspect of "The Butcher Boy" is how it maintains its sense of humor right up to the end of the movie. Francie pulls a childish prank that undercuts the horror of his most savage act.. It’s a reminder that we are dealing with a kid. The feeling of guilt is the price of laughter. "The Butcher Boy" does not pass judgment, but bears witness to the costs incurred by wanton cruelty and neglect. Accepted on those terms, "The Butcher Boy" is informative and entertaining. I think it is destined to become a classic.
I would be hard pressed not to mention the recent tragedy in Jonesboro, Arkansas where two boys, close in age to Francie, killed four other kids and a teacher.
The parallels between "The Butcher Boy" and this real life horror story are uncanny. Fact has met cinematic fiction before with "The China Syndrome" and the nuclear accident on Three Mile Island near Harrisburg Pennsylvania. I won’t comment on "Wag the Dog". Enough has been said already. While the last two movies may have benefited by the invasion of reality, I suspect that this may not be the case for "The Butcher Boy" because of the heinous nature of the real crimes.
VIDEO PIX: Three movies that have some connection to "The
Butcher Boy" in terms of style and content that come immediately to
mind are:
"Badlands" (1973) for its 1950’s pulp
magazine styled 1st person narrative; "Heavenly Creatures"(1994) for the fantasy
elements that led two girls to murder in 1950’s New Zealand; and "A Clockwork Orange"(1971) for its depiction
of a society that unintentionally breeds violence.. Many thought it savagely
funny at the time of its original release. Time may have taken the edge
off. Unchecked, Francie Brady could have easily grown up to be a Droog.
"Badlands" and "Heavenly Creatures" are based on actual murder cases. .