13 September 2010 (Movie Interview)

Words: Mark 'Lenny' Linehan

TWO bloody bodies stripped and almost naked, save for a pair of underpants. Earlier, an angry mob dragged the men from their vehicle to waste ground where they were undressed beaten and executed. The victims involved were corporals Derek Wood and David Howes. They had been spotted at the funeral of an IRA volunteer, and wearing plainclothes were mistaken for Loyalist gunmen.

The television cameras at the funeral captured the events, and the unfolding footage remains some of the most harrowing images ever recorded on the conflict in Northern Ireland. The vicious attack has always affected Brendan Muldowney. The graduate of Dun Laoghaire Film School is engaging and open, sipping a coffee in the subdued surroundings of the Library Bar in the Central Hotel. Leaning in close, he pauses for a moment, revealing the images that planted the seeds for his directorial debut feature film, Savage; "You see that as a human and something breaks in you. It is so primal and savage. It's similar to the beheadings in Iraq. When I first saw that footage I felt heartbroken and kind of lost my confidence in humanity." His interest in the gravity of these images from 1988 is reflected by the inclusion in his film of some of the most brutal scenes ever seen in Irish cinema. "I think the question people are asking is how we deal with all aspects of violence and revenge as a society." 

Another event that heavily influenced a young Muldowney was the famous subway shootings in New York in 1984. The so-called "Subway Vigilante" Bernard Goetz shot four men he said were intent on robbing him. The story went worldwide and led to a media scrutiny of the legal limits of self-defence. In Savage, nods are made to the kinds of moral panic instigated by the media, and to illustrate this, Muldowney roped in broadcaster Claire Byrne and controversial journalist Ian O Doherty for a cameo: "At some screenings abroad the audience didn't get the sarcasm of that scene, but I think the media play a hugely important role. Only recently we had the reporting of the Padraig Nally case in this country. The right to defend yourself, is a real grey area and I wanted to try to explore that in my movie."

The story revolves around Paul Graynor, a press photographer living in the Capital who is victim to a vicious and random sexual assault. Unable to readjust, he obsesses over his attackers and the film depicts his descent from victim to aggressor with horrifying consequences. Filmed in drained monochrome and with shades of oppressive gunmetal grey, this depiction of Dublin is not one that would surely have been supported by the Tourism Board. However, according to Muldowney: "The Irish Film Board were very supportive when I approached them with the script." He continued, "There's not one wide shot of the city and we kept the sky out of every scene," explaining the logistics of creating a claustrophobic world seen from the eyes of the victim. "I want to assault the audience. Take them on a visceral rollercoaster ride. It's a form of sensory deprivation. I want to extract empathy for what the main character is going through."

The audio assault is terrifying. Alarms, sirens, wails and a frequent ringing noise recreate the tinnitus and paranoia experienced by the victim. Recent screenings have even seen some people affected physically, "We have had someone fainting at a screening in Galway, while another patron spent his time screaming at it. I think he was drunk!" There are obvious allusions to Taxi Driver, but this Irish thriller has far more lineage according to Muldowney, "Exterminator, Deathwish, Straw Dogs, Clockwork Orange, A Short Film About Killing, Gaspar Noe's movies like Irreversible. Books like The Outsider, Crime and Punishment. All of these things influenced me heavily before I made Savage."

This is an accomplished piece of work for a feature debut. Working on a budget of a little more than €300,000, Muldowney has created something that looks like it cost ten times that amount. The Dublin native has already won numerous awards for his short films, and more features are on the cards, "At the moment we are working on an adaptation of a Japanese book, In Love With The Dead." I enquire to its subject matter. "Oh, erm, you know well its a little bit about necrophilia," he explains, then laughs, "but there's only one scene with that." A Japanese necrophilia movie. If there's one thing Brendan Muldowney doesn't shy away from it's the subject matter.

Savage is out on September 17th.
Check out Mark, AKA 'Lenny the Movie Man' on TodayFM. Every Thursday night on KC's show 10-12midnight.

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