CALM WITH HORSES directed by Nick Rowland (UK -Ireland, 2019)
“I’m told I was a violent child” is the opening line in a voiceover in this bold and bruising tale of toxic masculinity.
The narrator is Douglas ‘Arm’ Armstrong , an ex-boxer, now employed as an enforcer for an unscrupulous criminal family. The setting is rural Ireland in a claustrophic community where conflict and violence are the accepted ways of life.
Douglas is a physically imposing presence, lumbering from scene to scene like a wounded beast. His handler is the manipulative Dymphna (Barry Keoghan) who plies him with drugs much as a dog owner might seek to placate a doberman pinscher.
Ursula and Douglas discuss parenting choices.
Douglas is hopelessly torn between maintaining a menacing exterior and showing a vulnerable side to his autistic 5 year-old son, Jack. A scene in which he leaves this boy in a car with the instruction to “play with something” shows that he never going to be father of the year. His estranged partner Ursula (Niamh Algar), understandably wants out, dreaming of taking Jack to a special needs school in Cork.
The brutality and bullying that dominates the film made me think of Matteo Garone’s Dogman As in that movie, the main moments of tenderness are with animals. Horses have a calming effect on both Jack and Douglas offering a brief respite from the harshness of their confused worlds. The dark beauty of the soundtrack by Blanck Mass (Benjamin John Power) is perfectly in tune with the conflicting emotions.
Douglas says “I can hurt people” and we are left in no doubt of the truth of this statement. But if this were merely a story of a macho thug, the interest would soon wane. Through Cosmo Jarvis’ touching, yet unsentimental, performance, we see this man’s many failings yet can still pity his frailty. For all his apparent muscle-bound brawn, there are hints of some redeeming qualities.
This is not a movie for the squeamish but Nick Rowland’s assured debut finds some heart and soul in the bleakest of surroundings.
