Is é an t-aisteoir Éireannach, Tomás Ó Súilleabháin, a scríobh is a stiúraigh an drama/scéinséir stairiúil seo – a ainmníodh mar iontráil Éireannach na nOscar sa rannóg scannán eachtrach dar ndóigh. Is le Ó Súilleabháin an léiriú teann, atmaisféarach seo de imeachtaí i rith an eachtra is tubaistí i stair na Breataine/na hÉireann: An Górta Mór. Tá ARRACHT (a chiallaíonn ‘Ollphéist’), curtha i láthair go fíorálainn. Tá sé dírithe ar scéal Cholmán Ó Searcaigh, (Dónall Ó Héalaí), iascaire ó Chonamara a iarrann ar a thiarna talún gan an cíos a ardú, iarratas a spreagann foréigean is ansin ruaigeadh go dtí oileán iargúlta. Leanann ARRACHT sa stíl greanach, corpanta céanna atá le feiceáil sa scannán stairiúil de chuid Lance Daly a lonraigh go rathúil, is é sin, “Black 47” (a bhí léiriú Oíche Oscailte an FMFF2018). Is scéal mothálach, tarraingteach é faoi shlánú fir aonair, le cúlrá gruama lán le turraing agus creach. Bíonn géarbhach gaoithe agus ceobhrán ó imeallbhord na Gaillimhe go dlúth sa scannán i rith an ama. Tá saothar creidiúnach ach fíochmhar cumtha ag Ó Súilleabháin nach loiceann gráin an ama; ach meallann sé isteach thú agus bíonn tú gafa is bíonn bá agat le tóraíocht Uí Shearcaigh, atá, de réir cosúlachta, gan dóchas.
Irish actor Tom Sullivan is the writer and director of this period drama/thriller – Ireland’s foreign film Oscar entry, no less – and its intense, atmospheric depiction of events during the most cataclysmic event in British-Irish history: The Great Famine. Exquisitely crafted, ARRACHT (which means “Monster”) centres on Colmán Sharkey, played by Dónall Ó Héalai, a Connemara fisherman who asks his English landlord to not raise the rent, an appeal that triggers violence, and then flight, to an isolated island. ARRACHT follows in the gritty style of vengeance-filled, Irish historical drama, blazed so successfully by Lance Daly’s critical smash “BLACK 47” (which was our Opening Night screening at FMFF2018), and it carries this torch sublimely, with an intimate, deeply engaging tale of one man’s redemption, against a bleak backdrop of catastrophe & doom. The howling wind & sea-spray of the Galway coastline fills the screen majestically throughout, and, with this film, Sullivan has delivered a believable but brutal story that never flinches from the horrors of the time, but pulls you in, by forcing you to follow and empathise with Sharkey’s seemingly hopeless quest.