Chances are you haven’t heard of this movie. And let’s be real, chances are you won’t end up watching this movie. And to be fair, it’s hard to tell you to go out of your way to seek this out. Not because it’s not good – in fact, I liked it a lot – but because it won’t be everyone’s cup of tea. A film about two rural sheepherding families who don’t get along is hardly the strongest pitch. The fact that it’s a small, seething, contemplative film is also unlikely to get people off their seats. But somehow, Christopher Andrews’ directorial debut threads the needle to make something very interesting if you give it a chance. Here are my thoughts.

Point 1: Small but Mighty

As much as I like my bombastic, world-at-stake type movies, I’ve come to really cherish the smaller films, happy to not reach for more. Bring Them Down starts with a bang before slowing down to explore the nitty-gritty aspects of rural Irish life. Although not the objective of this first point, I would like to commend Christopher Abbott here for taking on a rule that mostly involves speaking Irish when he seems to have no discernible connection to Ireland. I don’t speak Irish so I’m hardly a great judge of his speaking ability, but he definitely does not feel out of place at all. Anyways, back to the point. Although the scope of the film is quite small, the exploration of its characters is anything but small.

The film has a quiet sensibility to it. Not in the calm sense, mind you. But more in the unsettling sense. Nothing seems to be happening yet there is a sense of tension that fills the air. When the film starts the way it does, it feels difficult to just swallow the mundanity of the ongoings of the early parts of the movie. But I see that as part of the draw. You feel unsettled with no real reason to point to and that’s the sweet spot Bring Them Down rests in. It’s like a powderkeg and you’re on the tips of your toes waiting for when and how it will go off.

The narrative also has an ace up its sleeve to make the straightforward events get colours differently that adds another layer to the ongoings. 

Point 2: Men Will Do Anything But Go to Therapy

I don’t mean this literally, but boy would this movie turn our way differently if the men would have gone to therapy. Now I don’t know how many therapists are available in the ruralest of rural Ireland but alas. Thankfully, the lack of therapists has allowed this narrative to take place.

Christopher Abbott’s Michael O’Shea is the most mild-mannered, calm person but you can see the rage bubbling underneath the surface. The efficiency with which Andrews first sets up Michael as a certain type of person in the first scene without ever showing him allows for us to immediately have opinions about the character even 20 years later. The pieces don’t seem to fit with that first impression and that’s what makes it interesting. How such a tragic, traumatic event can completely change a person is the whole point of the character. We know he can get very angry, but we also know that it changed the course of his life. So when we see him being a pushover, it makes you question if he’s changed or if he’s just bottled things inside. As you learn more about the way he’s handled the reason for and the fallout of that incident, you start to sense what’s to come. 

Abbott’s restrained timebomb of a performance is the main draw of Bring Them Down but Barry Koeghan’s performance as the other side of the coin is what balances out the film. The tension anytime the two are in the same scene is so thick that you could shatter a knife cutting it. 

Point 3: Gray Skies

The many shots of the gray skies set the scene for what goes from a story of good and bad to a muddy mess of morality where no one has clean hands by the end of it. Andrews draws up a very simple story from A to B if it’s shown from one perspective, but what elevates this is showing the other perspective. Well, how do you show the other perspective? Sometimes the answer is as simple as the question. 

And as you follow the events of the story, you start seeing each point where every single character gets caught lighting a match next to the fuse. Your allegiance changes throughout the narrative as you struggle to grasp who the good guy is until you just give up and surrender to a story that has no right answer, simply a futile attempt to get even. I’m a sucker for morally gray stories and characters, so this hit just the right buttons for me.

As brutal as the movie can be at times inciting emotions of anger, by the end of it, you’re just left with the feeling of sadness as you realize no one can come out of this better than when they started. To some that may feel frustrating, but at the end of the day, that’s as real as a story like this can be.

Point 4: Not For the Everyone

All that said, I don’t think this movie will hit the mark for most people. And that’s for multiple reasons. 

Firstly, there is a fair amount of violence against animals. Although I didn’t personally find it to be gratuitous, that may not be everyone’s opinion. If you like sheep, you might have a tough time sitting through a few of the scenes. 

Secondly, I used the word contemplative to describe this movie. That’s one of those words where it sounds nice but can easily mean boring if you end up not liking the movie. It is definitely a slow burn in the first half, but its 106 minute runtime is short enough that it does not overstay its welcome. Regardless, I can see many not enjoying the experience of sitting through this.

Finally, I can already hear many asking “what was the point?” when the film ends. I actually hate that question. I don’t need to go into a film with a purpose that needs to be achieved. The journey is the destination for me, and this journey was definitely worth the time. But I also realize not everyone is me, so it’s possible you feel unsatisfied at the end when there is no neat bow that ties everything together.

All in all, I think this is a fantastic first film by Christopher Andrews and I’ll definitely keep my eye out for his next effort. If you’ve followed some of my previous reviews, you know I have a thing for low-budget films and this film’s budget clocks in at a hair over $3 million. Between the three movies I have watched in theatres this year – the other two being Presence (review here) which cost $2 million and Companion (review here) which cost $10 million – I’ve only now hit the budget of an episode of the last season of Game of Thrones. Does that say much? Not particularly, but it does put into perspective the exorbitant amounts of money being thrown around when great films can be made at much smaller scales. Perhaps next time you go to the theaters, you’ll consider a film like this.