A comedy about a kid descending into madness doesn’t sound very
amusing, but director Neil Jordan has a way of sneaking it in
on you in The Butcher Boy.
Eomonn Owens and Stephen Rea in The Butcher Boy.
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The kid is one Francie Brady (Eamonn Owens), a 12-year-old Irish
lad of the early Sixties with a mop of red hair and the disposition
of a tornado. Francie has come up with a coping mechanism to deal
with his horrific surroundings – his dad’s a drunk, his mother’s
suicidal – by making more trouble than what he sees at home. He’s
set up a world where the enemy is an uptight neighbor woman, Mrs.
Nugent (Fiona Shaw) and his only ally is his friend Joe (Alan
Boyle). Francie has set out to destroy Mrs. Nugent by harassing
her son and then by entering her home, smashing her cakes, defacing
her property with lipstick, and finally defecating on the floor.
His actions get him sent away to a Catholic boys’ home, where
he rules. But when Francie gets a letter from Joe saying that
he’s been fraternizing with Mrs. Nugent’s son, Francie’s psyche
develops a crack and the Virgin Mary (played by Sinead O’Connor)
begins to speak to him.
Owens gives a terrific, energetic performance as the manic Francie.
He twirls and screams and pounces on men twice his size. He cannot
be contained. His actions bespeak a truly lost soul. But his rapid-fire
antics leave no time for much sympathy so that, consequently,
the brutal climax comes as something of a shock and makes The
Butcher Boy the most heartbreaking comedy around.
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