The joke at the heart of Martin McDonagh’s 2001 black comedy has a lot in common with that of The Sopranos. The novelty of David Chase’s TV series was in seeing a bunch of New Jersey mobsters not only going about their murderous business but also taking it easy in their suburban homes. Torture one day, Sunday lunch the next.
The Lieutenant of Inishmore offers a similarly comic juxtaposition. On the one hand, Padraic is an unhinged paramilitary killer, a man too extreme for membership of the IRA. On the other, he is sentimentally attached to his pet cat. Tending to the animal is the only thing that could make him abandon a torture session. A psychopath with a soft spot is doubly scary.
