You don’t want to be hard on films that are not only well-intentioned, but also do their bit to correct a paucity of diverse experiences portrayed in Irish cinema. When that diversity is so rare, can’t we just enjoy films that embrace it? Do we have to go in with our studs showing?
Those questions feel pertinent to two films released this month, Sanctuary and Halal Daddy. The latter is Conor McDermottroe’s comedy about a Sligo community’s attempt to open a Halal abattoir. McDermottroe paints a refreshingly diverse portrait of modern Ireland, and a country stumbling in its attempts to welcome its new melting pot of races, ethnicities and religions. As an Indian man, raised in Bradford before moving to Sligo, Raghdan Aziz (Nikesh Patel) witnesses a lot of these missteps, like the abattoir supervisor Martin (Colm Meaney) trying to impress Raghdan’s father by hiring cringe-worthy belly dancers and learning Arabic (“He from India, he speaks Urdu!”)
The film addresses this ignorance and casual racism, but as all the people of colour laugh it off, there’s also a forgiveness that we are not entitled to assume. The screenplay feels a little bit by-the-numbers. Raghdan’s eclectic friends all remain eccentric caricatures, including his sex-obsessed aunt and uncle (Deirdre O’Kane and Paul Tylak), and as the community comes together to support Raghdan, the small-town schtick feels overdone.
The determination to remain light and breezy also undermines the dramatic elements of the film: for me, Raghdan’s deep conflict with his father is resolved too quickly. Ultimately Halal Daddy feels like so many of its characters – well-intentioned but disappointing in its predictability.