The Outcasts
The Outcasts
The Outcasts (1982) BFI Flipside Blu ray BFIB1522 Rated 15
New from the BFI Flipside team, a 2K High Definition presentation of ‘The Outcasts’, a rarely seen 1982 film set in rural Ireland in the 19th Century, this quiet drama pushes emotional buttons as a folk tale unfolds. The flm is written and directed by Robert Wynne-Simmons.
In a small, inward looking community of subsistence level farmers where poverty is the norm and sickness and death are never very far away, the priority is keeping the farm work turning over, no matter what. Everyone has a part to play and hard physical labour is expected. With such a tough way of life and little time for rest or play, people’s feelings and attitudes are perhaps understandably harsh. In this impoverished landscape lives shy and introverted Maura (Mary Ryan) whose contemporaries take delight in poking fun at her, jostling her to the ground and treating her as less than they imagine themselves to be. Her father, a stony-faced man whose farm is failing, never spares her the rod, feeling her to be little more than a burden.
Outsiders and visitors are few, but the top-hatted equestrian matchmaker (veteran actor Cyril Cusack) turns up to broker a marriage between Maura’s elder sister and the capable, hard-working son of his neighbour. His presence provides the other youngsters with another opportunity to taunt Maura, but a young priest makes a touching attempt to befriend her, sharing his nature sketch book with her.
In a rare evening away from the parents, a mysterious group of musicians arrive, their heads wrapped in conical straw helmets, like figures from a mummer’s play. Their rumbunctious music provides the soundtrack to some drunken revelry and the other girls take off into the woods for some outdoor horseplay, leaving Maura behind. However, fiddler Scarf Michael (Mick Lally) has designs on Maura and she is not unflattered by his attentions.
It's here that the story takes on a more magical tone, with the elements behaving strangely, the musicians undergoing odd transformations with only Maura unalarmed by it all. The other girls fare less well and it isn’t long before they begin to blame Maura for it and their lives’ predicaments, even accusing her of being a witch.
‘The Outcasts’ is probably a little short on scares to be considered a true horror film, but its strength lies in its sympathetic depiction of outsider status and the way entrenched poverty can drive people to look for the easiest scapegoat.
Scenester
22/9/24
