What was the point?

Don't let your friend's little donkey eat your finger or the civil war will never end.
Otherwise....the movie was quite good. Get a clue.

The director/writer is a playwright/philosopher is controversially dedicated to presenting hyperviolence (gratuitious, graphic violence) within Irish culture/history as functional violence, and being functional, an essential characteristic of human interaction. His films and plays are all about reconsidering stereotypical Irish hyperviolence as functional violence, and the functional violence is essential and integral to the power dynamic between characters.

Colm/England inflicts existential terrorism onto Padraic/Ireland, which quickly accelates to absurd pointless violence. Why has my lifetime friend/England left me all alone? What have I done to deserve this treatment and punishment? Why is everybody (fellow Irish) in town on his side (England's side), he's cutting off his own fingers (sacrificing Irish brother against Irish brother) and everybody is blaming me and telling me to leave him alone when he's mad and is acting nothing like himself and abusing me? Why has England done this to us? Why are Irish brothers slaughtering each other? Why is everybody acting like a Banshee? How did this start? Why am I being punishment by an entire town for the actions of a mad man who cuts his fingers off to spite his face? Padraic/Ireland blows up England/Colm'sHouse, all kinds of Troubles have now infested themselves into this island of an island town (separate from all the wars and violence) where the guncrackle of the Irish Civil War can be heard in the far distance and now within the house fire.

The hyperviolence springs from Irish history (British occupation, Irish Civil War, IRA, INLA, wanton brutality and bloodshed), something unavoidable and generational and twisted into a stereotype against the Irish.

Hyperviolence and its functionality and its absurdity and mootness is what the director/writer is grappling with in every film/play he creates. Banshees is his most distilled, minimialized approach yet to the subject matter.

This film also mirrors the Irish Civil War (the Civil War is in the distant backdrop of the film), brother/friend/neighbour inexplicably punishing and destroying fellow brother/friend/neighbour. In a Civil War, where family and friends and neighbours are tied by deep historic relations and roots and intimate history, the origins of the war are moot, there should not be a war, they should not be destroying each other. A timeless concept.

Colm/English/Unionist (British rule) inexplicably punishes Padraic/Irish/Republican (Irish self-rule) by cutting off friendship, which is psychological punishment on Padraic. Colm hyperviolently cuts off his fingers (lot of common sense symbolism in what he does, cut off nose to spite face, cut off right hand man) to scapegoat Padraic, which is an example of Colm/Britain's existential terrorism inflicted on Padraic/Ireland.

There's a lot to unpack in this film, these are a few thoughts about what the film is about. This film is an example of Theatre du Grand-Guignol, Martin McDonough is very well noted and controversial for using techniques from Grand-Guignol theatre, all of his films and plays quickly alternate from comedy to violence, causing audiences to laugh during scenes of carnage and gore.

Oscar bait? Does this seem like the pandering shit Hollywood makes to win Oscars? Three Billboards was Oscar bait. Racist cop ends up helping black people. C'mon...

Having watched this last night, I came here to pose the exact same question. What a depressing pointless and stupid movie. Perhaps it was about the stupidty and futility of the civil war that was going on? In any case, I don't care and have no idea, an wish I had switched to another movie because I was thinking eventually this would lighten up.

The entire point of the movie is don't be a dullard or you will discover all the nice people in your life have ambitions other than meaningless small talk and will abandon you when you need them most.

This is a very artsy movie to fully appreciate it you need to be a colm

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Ireland no longer wants to be friends with England because they feel England has been holding them back.

England refuses to accept this. Ireland begins hurting itself as a form of protest but, as is often the case, one form of violence leads to another (death of the pony)

In response, England retaliates by burning Ireland's entire house down.

What is the point of any movie/novel/etc about people, human relationships and inter-relationships? I didn’t enjoy this film much either but not because it was a bad film. It was a very fine film - good acting, beautifully shot scenes, and interesting/quirky characters who live out their lives in a very tight circle and have little self-understanding. I just found it a little too sad and depressing.