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A slice of very harrowing social history set against the
Irish potato famine (1845 - 49) and the subsequent land clearances carried out
by British troops on behalf of the landed gentry and the English government.
The clearances have also formed a dark part of Scottish history,which I don’t think
has been articulated in movies and incidentally to my knowledge this is the first time that the potato famine has been the
subject of an Irish movie. Both nations still show the scars associated with
this inhuman type of land control.
The title of this movie is taken from the worst year of
this devastating period - 1847. James Frecheville plays Feeney a Irish Ranger who took the ‘kings shilling’ and
has been fighting for the British Army. After
13 years he deserts and returns to his Irish homeland to reunite with
his family. Even this hardened solider is shocked by what he finds on his
return. The people are dying due to the potato famine and the
brutalisation by the overlords and their
lapdogs. When he discovers that his mother staved to death, his brother was hanged by the English and his sister in law and her children had
frozen to death after being forced out of the home Feeney sets out to avenge
his family.
Injustice sometimes can only be put right by violent action
and this story is one of these occasions, yes grisly, yes bloodthirsty but one
cannot help side with Mr Feeney and his blood spattered actions. Very well received in Ireland as one would
expect, not sure if this movie has had a release in the UK, shame if it has not
- but there’s always the DVD.
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