Powerful and poignant, pressing all the right hot button issues, Ill Fares The Land is a fantasy short which works as a metaphor for asylum seekers. The visual punch of this film packs statement after statement as one young boy finds a mermaid on the shore while his older brother is making far-right nationalism videos as a tide of hate and distrust keeps rising.
Forget about Disney’s attempt to bring back some fishy tales. Ill Fares The Land has something honest to say and it bubbles with a complexity that is atypical of short films. This is a film which, yes, deals with mermaids and migrants and the Far Right, but it is far more metaphorical than it lets on as a seaside home becomes ground zero for the rights of migrants.
Award-winning writer/director Patrick Ireland’s Ill Fares The Land hinges on the relationship between two brothers; one a far-right nationalist with murder on his mind and the younger brother who, thanks to an accidental encounter with a mermaid, finds himself at odds with the family’s white agenda.
Full of quick edits, solid cinematography, and a fantasy-drama theme which operates in a stoically solid way, Ill Fares The Land begs to ask the question: what happens when you kill a mermaid? The answer is a disturbing one, siphoned through far right views, and its consequence of violence echoes through the coast and straight into the waters of the ocean.
This gritty drama with folk fantasy and political commentary will sew up the holes in your heart thanks to its thematic impressions and its moving performances from characters who can’t afford decent living arrangements and have removed themselves from their own humanity.
There is nothing but pain.
Featuring strong performances from Noah Silvertone, Ruaridh Aldington, Eddie Chamberlin and Ruairi Conaghan, the enchanting Ill Fares The Land is coming soon.
MPAA Rating: Unrated.
Runtime: 18 mins
Director: Patrick Ireland
Writer: Patrick Ireland
Cast: Noah Silverstone; Ruaridh Aldington; Smilla
Genre: Drama | Romance | Short
Tagline: Mermaids. Migrants. And the Far Right.
Memorable Movie Quote: "White civilization is facing threats."
Distributor:
Official Site:
Release Date: Coming Soon
DVD/Blu-ray Release Date:
Synopsis: A young boy finds a mermaid washed up on the shores of his seaside home while his older brother is swept up in the rising tide of far-right nationalism…
