Bring Them Down (2025)
Directed by: Chris Andrews
Premise: Set in rural Ireland, two shepherding families come into conflict when one of them steals the other family’s rams.
What Works: Bring Them Down is a drama of two families bound by a common occupation but also an intertwined past and a shared culture. The story is primarily about Michael (Christopher Abbott), a middle-aged man who is the last in his family line of sheepherders. A prologue sequence establishes Michael’s violent past which he appears to have put behind him until Jack (Barry Keoghan), the son of the neighboring family, steals his rams. What should be a simple and straightforward conflict becomes increasingly complicated by family pride and masculine posturing. The story plays in three parts. The first portion plays from Michael’s point of view, and the filmmakers put us on his side as Michael is pushed into violence by the actions of his neighbor and the urging of his father (Colm Meaney). The narrative then retells those events from Jack’s point of view which changes the tone of the movie and complicates the nature of the conflict which reaches its conclusion in the third portion. The structure is impressive in the way the filmmakers set up and then contort our expectations. Bring Them Down creates moral ambiguity in a way that is thoughtful. Michael and Jack each possess volition but they are also pushed by toxic masculine influences that direct them toward regrettable decisions. The drama is absorbing but also thought provoking in the way it demands we think about revenge tales. Bring Them Down is beautifully shot. The filmmakers use the landscape to create a vivid sense of place. The dark and nighttime scenes are especially well lit, creating atmosphere but also clearly illuminating the action.
What Doesn’t: Bring Them Down is not a typical revenge thriller and it does not play to the audience the way this genre usually does. Revenge pictures are typically about building moral outrage in the viewer on behalf of the protagonist which builds up to an explosion of satisfying violence. The first part of Bring Them Down works that way but the story structure intentionally deflates the emotional momentum, making us see matters from the other family’s point of view. While this is to the picture’s credit, Bring Them Down does not offer the emotional purge that audiences usually look for in revenge movies. It does something else that’s more introspective.
Disc extras: Available on MUBI.
Bottom Line: Bring Them Down is an exceptional drama. It is gritty and violent but also morally and emotionally complex. This is an impressive debut feature from director Chris Andrews.
Episode: #1045 (April 27, 2025)