Famine drama looks to the West

Black 47 doesn’t exploit the tragedy of the famine by relegating it to the background of a violent Western, but frames that horror in a way that resonates with the form in which it is being expressed.

James Frecheville in Black 47

Cinema

Black 47: Directed by Lance Daly, Nationwide, 15A,Rating:****

American Animals: Directed by Bart Layton, Nationwide, 15A,Rating:***

You don’t need to explain the title of Lance Daly’s Black 47 to an Irish person. The Great Famine that devastated the country reached its peak in 1847 and has been ingrained in our collective memory since. You don’t easily forget the trauma of a million people starved to death, or the million more scattered to ...