Black '47

The grim death toll from Ireland's Great Famine of the 1840s makes for daunting cinematic subject matter, but director Lance Daly has found a way into the tragedy by creating a story of personal and historical revenge. Hence, two tough individuals, who'd previously served in Afghanistan with British colonial shock troops, find themselves on opposite sides of the law in hunger-ravaged Connemara. James Frecheville (Animal Kingdom) impresses as Feeney, the taciturn, ruthless Irish fugitive intent on exacting brutal revenge on those responsible for the loss of his family after eviction from their smallholding. Fellow Aussie actor Hugo Weaving is also suitably bearded and gnarly as the wily English-born tracker helping the Brits to bring Feeney to justice. It all plays out like a gripping Irish western, drawing on the genre models of the blood-soaked 1970s variety, yet driven by a specifically Irish need to address the injustices of the past. A truly potent combination, crisply put together, and driven home by Brian Byrne's storming score - where Morricone meets the uilleann pipes.