In our house we always liked the mystical, ethereal. how much of that is due to the imbedded whimsy of my father's Irishness, or simply that we have always needed out heads on the clouds but our feet buried ankle deep in the good soil of this earth. They've a collective memory hard to pin, a storytelling tradition still hell in high regard, it's no surprise The Outcasts has been seared into their consciousness too. When I asked my dad after my first viewing, he brightened, 'Aye, I remember that one. Saw it years ago.' And that he did. Likely he caught it during its brief stint on Channel 4 in 1984 following a short cinema run in 1982, eventually finding a release on VHS where it, as with many other, slipped into obscurity. The Outcasts really did become little more than a legend.
There's something fitting about The Outcasts being somewhat lost for more than forty years. Not right, but fitting. Somehow timeless after all of these years, feeling fresh and new whilst existing as one of the most significant pieces of Irish filmmaking of the last century. Written by Robert Wynne-Simmons and his directorial debut, most notably remembered for screenplay for The Blood on Satan's Claw (1971), he drew on what he knew best, Folk Horror.
In pre-famine rural Ireland, a young woman named Maura is met with suspicion by her neighbours and bullied by her siblings, seen to be 'mad'. She's strange and introverted and her father is troubled by it, insistent that she stand up for herself. There is something different about her and following a meeting with the mysterious, fiddle-playing, wanderer, Scarf Michael, on the night of her sisters wedding and who punishes her siblings in mischievous ways, she is awoken to a world of mysticism and magic. However, it is not long before Maura is accused of witchcraft even as she finds herself more empowered. As tensions rise, she slips farther from the life she knows.
This attempt at a synopsis does so little to capture the story full. It's contemplative and moody but also so strange. There are aspects of this film that are eerie, but overall The Outcasts embraces its whimsy almost with magical realism. A rugged historical drama sometimes too, pulsing with texture and tone. I think the moniker of 'horror' to the modern viewer does the film a disservice, not so much by definition, but by cultural understanding. And Wynne-Simmons (in the BFI Blu-ray extras) seems to agree. The land of Ireland was rich with stories and a perfect fit for what he describes as a 'folk tale' set during times when 'magic had more meaning.'
The Outcasts could so easily have tumbled into straight-to-video kind of films we all grew up with, those films you were never quiet sure you had actually seen. Or maybe my experience is a little more niche. When I stuck it on I was frightened it would lack authenticity I guess, or at least amp up its Irish to appeal to a broader audience and in doing so stereotyping itself. I've seen it done and it does a disservice to the unruly and magical land and lore. But so much of this film is drenched in well-tailored atmosphere and slices of wonder and whimsy. Wynne-Simmons well utilised practical effects still hold up today, with fun in-cameras tricks and brilliant production design whilst the lushness of the Irish landscape alone captures the viewers imagination so naturally.
I love the films ability to neither condemn nor condone; it's purely immersed in it's dreamy yet gritty remoteness. In the isolated community on the west of Ireland as much as the folk are God-fearing, they also know there is something beyond their comprehension on the fringe of their society, a deep respect for a pagan tradition though they may not know it. It always seems at odds. Even the wedding party is an intentional mish-mash of both. The Christian preacher of the story feels an outsider to the community but far more accepted though more a stranger to their way of life, too gentrified in comparison to the roughness of the simple folk. He offers Maura kindness, protection and guidance and words of warning amidst the rising barbarism, but still Maura is drawn further from the realm of man. It is in the ancient wonders she finds herself. The old ways are wiser, brutal in their own tradition but far more liberating. And though the film explores the ironies of belief and hate founded on fear, it also never shies away from the fantastical. The magic is what matters. And it balances all of this comfortably with out ever feeling egregious. It certainly never feels naff.
Rich characters are only rounded out by strong performances from the cast, and despite the dreamlike, often unsettling elements to the story we also get a powerful relationship at the core of the story. I wasn't expecting a romance, that's for sure, and a respectful one at that. I don't know about anyone else but any man who captures a piece of the moon for you is worth keeping around. Bare minimum at this point. Maura and Scarf Michael are drawn to one another but this other-worldly man warns her of giving herself over entirely to magic of the land for once she does she can never look back. As empowering as the journey is for Maura it is also unsettling; she is a complex character. She can never quite shake her need to belong with her family. It masters more than just a folk tale that whisks its viewers away. Maura is a fascinating character that resonates, equally pitiful and ferocious, gentle but strong.
It's for releases like this that I find myself soap-boxing the hell out of physical media again. Thanks to the Irish Film Archive, we are now able to see this lost film in all it's rugged glory, a true hidden gem of Irish cinema whilst BFI present on home release. Even then, it has remained low-key. But for me it was one of my best watches of 2024, a year I found full of disappointments and good-but-never-great new releases. I'd urge all to check it out because as much as a hidden gem it is, it deserves to get the recognition that Irish cinema deserves. Then it can be a part of all our collective consciousness. We can all wonder then if it was really just a dream.
****1/2
The Outcasts is available on Blu-ray here.
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