"Hunger (2008)"
Movie Monologues
IMDb: www.imdb.com/title/tt0986233/
"You been to Gweedore, in Donegal? I went there when I was 12. Big cross-country race for the boys. And we were all in the back of a minibus headed towards Derry one morning. I mean this is big time. I mean, this is like international athletics for us because we were racing against boys in the South and we had this thing to do Belfast pride. A few boys were Protestants and the rest of us were Catholics. It was a cross-community event I suppose the good people in the south think this is great stuff. Let's get this wee team over from Belfast and all that patronizing shit. Anyway, we went through the border. The boys singing pop tunes and all... But I'm just in the back of the bus looking out the window, we're going through the mountains. You know, where Mount Errigal is in them? It's a beautiful sight, Don. Donegal is the most beautiful place in Ireland, I reckon. Anyway, when we arrived at Gweedore... what a place. There were about 200 boys there. Getting into their gear and limnering up. The whole event is run by Christian Brothers and they're clipping young fellows around in the back of the ears, basically trying to obtain some order. Our team goes off for a wee jog, to stretch out the legs. And we're surrounded by fields of barley. And I dip down into a wee valley where there's a stream and woods running through it. The woods and the stream are out of bounds so, naturally, us Belfast boys had to go check it, right? The woods and the stream seemed like the Amazon to us. As we come across, these young fellows from Cork... there's some banter about our accents... They could barely talk we couldn't understand what they were saying. You get the idea that they are lording it over us... Looking down on us, I'm sensing it anyway. We run along... and we come up with this idea to go down to the stream and check it out for fish. So we went to the river, Don... stream, and there's half a foot of water there... and a silver fish, but nothing substantial. Until one of our boys calls us further down. Lying in the water is a wee foal. Four or five days old. He was all skin and bone, a gray color. And it's got flakes of blood in his coat because he's cut himself up really badly in the sharp rocks. We were standing over him and you could see his back legs snapped... He's breathing, he's alive, but just about. So this big conversation gets started up between the boys who suddenly reckon themselves the leaders... and deliberating as what we should do. Someone says drop a rock on his head, but I'm looking in their faces and I can see they are either scared stiff or clueless. It's all bravado. And this foal on the ground in real pain. All this chitchat going on going nowhere. Next thing, one of the priests sees us, sees the foal, tells us not to move it and that we were done for. We were really done for. Group of boys will always get the blame for hurting a foal. A group of Belfast boys will get a hammering for sure. So it's clear to me in an instant. I get down on my knees on my knees and take the foal's head in my hands and I put him underwater. He's thrashing around, so I press down harder until he's drowned. The priests arrived, Don. Just grabbing me by the hair, dragging me through the woods, promising me a proper punishment. But I knew I did the right thing by that wee foal. and I could take the punishment for all our boys. I had the respect of the other boys now. And I knew that. I'm clear of the reasons, Don. And clear of all the repercussions. I will act, and I will not stand by and do nothing."