In 1934, renowned documentary filmmaker Robert J. Flaherty set out to the Aran Islands, just off the Irish coast, to shoot his docudrama “Man of Aran” in which he shows fishermen and farmers performing mundane routines. Yet few filmmakers were as sly as Flaherty when it came to manipulating the form, and some of the most thrilling sequences in “Aran” are fabrications he came up with during the shoot. Perhaps finding inspiration in this blending of truth and fiction, Martin McDonagh wrote “The Cripple of Inishmaan”, a very dark comedy set in the community of Inis Meáin, in which the title character, a disabled young man by the name of Billy Claven (Daniel Radcliffe) sees an opportunity to overcome his misfortunes by being cast in Flaherty’s film.
Orphaned as a baby, Billy lives with his adoptive aunts Kate (Ingrid Craigie) and Eileen (Gillian Hanna) who spend their time tending after a shop that only seems to sell peas, and worrying about the boy’s health, as well as his unhealthy obsession with cows. Through an economical sense of dialogue, McDonagh is able to convey a world overtaken by the curse of repetition; local gossip Johnnypateenmike (Pat Shortt) exchanges his news about geese-murders for eggs and local flirt Helen (Sarah Greene) hands out kisses to everyone, as long as there’s something in return for her.
These people talk about the same things over and over which makes the film shoot seem to be like the most exciting event in ages. Yet what McDonagh aims to unearth is not as much the excitement that comes with the new, but the fear instilled by change in those who have become used to their own mode of existence. Powered by Radcliffe’s commanding performance, the disabilities in “The Cripple of Inishmaan” have much more to do with mental closedness than with any actual physical ailments, for it is the person who can move the least easily, who seems desperate to discover a world beyond his limits.
Radcliffe’s comedic timing is superb, but he is even better in moments when Billy must open his heart and come to terms with his tragic history. The actor exerts a sensational gravitational pull over the entire cast, all of whom have splendid chemistry with him. Directed with energy and wit by Michael Grandage, “The Cripple of Inishmaan” makes for a great reminder that sometimes art transcends the limits imposed by its medium and affects the lives of those who come to benefit the most from it.
