The miniature donkey Jenny dies. She chokes to death trying to eat a severed human finger. Her death is not shown on screen, but her body is shown laying by a pile of her vomit when her owner finds her, and he fishes the finger out of her mouth. It's pretty disturbing if you're sensitive to animal death.
He beats Pádraic home and throws his fingers at the door, which leads to Pádraic's beloved miniature donkey, Jenny, finding the discarded fingers and dying from choking on them. Broken-hearted, Pádraic confronts Colm at the local pub and tells him that he will come to his house one last time the next day.
What are the two deaths in The Banshees of Inisherin?
As he leaves, Pádraic comes across Mrs McCormick, who reveals to him that Dominic – who had recently revealed his unrequited love for Siobhán – has died, the second death she had previously alluded to, after Jenny. However, it's unclear whether Dominic's death was suicide or a tragic accident.
Essentially, after Dominic has his heart broken after being rejected by Siobhan by the (lake?), he says "Well, there goes that dream. I best go over there and do whatever that thing over there I was gonna do was.” He later ends up drowned.
It's a deeply cynical story with an achingly human message, a meditation on the way we define ourselves through others. One cannot pin their failures on a friend, nor can they use a peer as proof of virtue. We are our own individuals and must recognize ourselves as such.
The film begins, however, with Colm refusing to speak to Pádraic. Eventually, Colm tells Pádraic that he simply doesn't like him anymore. The root of that dislike comes from their difference in intellect and interests. Colm is a fiddler and composer, introspective and artistic.
The argument was made as part of a general critique of the film's hammed up Irishness: its seeming delivery of a barrage of stock tropes, stereotypes, and visual motifs that, from its opening scenes, screams: “Hold on to your flat caps… Here comes Ireland”.
It's subtle, notable, and effective at displaying how depression and loneliness change how we act with each other and the world at large. Passing on the local news to neighbors becomes a chore and an act to avoid, or even a spot you used to hang out suddenly feels poisoned, and your desire to be there vanishes.
What is the symbolism in The Banshees of Inisherin?
Besides being funny and devastating, Banshees of Inisherin is also rife with symbolism about the Irish Civil War – indeed conflict in general, especially male conflict – and McDonough's commentary is explored through the end of Colm and Pádraic's friendship.
Jenny is the beloved sidekick to Farrell's Pádraic and acts as his companion when Gleeson's Colm ends their friendship. Jenny the donkey was actually played by two donkeys in real life — Jenny and Rosie. Animal trainer Megan Hines told The Mirror that both deserved credit for their work on the movie.
In one way, the growing animosity between Colm and Pádraic directly mirrors the Irish Civil War, where it can be argued that Pádraic represents the Free State forces and the self-sabotaging Colm is akin to the IRA.
Is The Banshees of Inisherin a metaphor for Ireland?
This is a film about despair, pride, the loss of relationships, and the Irish Civil War – cloaked in allegory. The Banshees of Inisherin is a story about the breakup of a male friendship on the fictional island of Inisherin off the Irish coast, set in 1923, nearly a year after the start of the Irish Civil War.
A banshee is a mythological creature that appears in Irish folklore and fairy tales. Banshees are female spirits that supposedly wail just before a family member dies. Have you ever heard the phrase "scream like a banshee?" Sometimes people say this when a child is shrieking or a stranger yells loudly.
The protagonist, Pádraic, is a young cow herder who lives with his sister, Siobhán, on Inisherin, a remote island off the coast of Ireland. He is devastated and confused upon unexpectedly learning that his best friend, Colm, doesn't want to speak to him anymore.
We're going to talk about the piece as a political allegory for the Irish Civil War and the troubles in Ireland that took place in the many years after it, and how Martin McDonagh's incredible screenwriting makes this allegory work so well.
Is The Banshees of Inisherin based on a true story?
The island town featured in The Banshees of Inisherin may be fictional, but the locations around Ireland where it was filmed are beautifully real — and very visitable.
Does anything bad happen to the donkey in The Banshees of Inisherin?
The miniature donkey Jenny dies. She chokes to death trying to eat a severed human finger. Her death is not shown on screen, but her body is shown laying by a pile of her vomit when her owner finds her, and he fishes the finger out of her mouth. It's pretty disturbing if you're sensitive to animal death.
This is most easily observed by the presence of Mrs. McCormick (Sheila Flitton), the banshee of the movie. In Irish folklore, a banshee is a herald of death. While McCormick fulfills this role, I also think she is a visual representation of depression.
The 'Inisherin' of the title is a fictional island, but the film is shot on two: Achill Island in County Mayo and Inis Mór, the biggest of the Aran Islands in County Galway. A journey to each island brings much of the imagery and experiences from the film to life.
There doesn't appear to be any women on Inisherin Dominic's age – which, to be fair, could run anywhere from 18 to the early 30s (Keoghan himself is a baby-faced 30) – leaving only Pádraic's sister, Siobhán (played by Kerry Condon), as the much older and wiser object of his affections.
