The Secret Scripture seems to be an example of that type of film that divides critics and audiences. As of time of writing it has a meta-critic score of 37%, whilst boasting almost double that score, 6.7 on the IMDB meter. Directed by the highly regarded Irishman, Jim Sheridan and featuring an excellent cast, the film is based on a novel of the same name by Irish writer Sebastian Barry, which I admit to not having read. I gather much of the criticism stems from the fact that this cinematic adaption, doesn't really follow the novel's storyline. (How often though do we hear this criticism of film adaptions?) I personally found the film quite compelling, though it likely could have benefitted from some greater exposition surrounding key scenes and the narrative did feature a couple of scarcely credible plot contrivances.
Rose McNulty (Vanessa Redgrave) has been a patient in an Irish sanitarium for 50 years since being accused of murdering her baby in 1942. The facility is scheduled for demolition and patients are being redeployed. She refuses to leave and Dr. Stephen Grene (Eric Bana) a psychiatrist is asked by the local Catholic Church to investigate her case. In doing so, he and a sympathetic nurse uncover Rose's bible, the secret scripture of the title, in which she has written and drawn an account of her life before her incarceration for allegedly killing her newborn son in 1942. Using the book and interviews with Rose, over the next 3 days, before she will be forced to leave, Grene pieces together the events leading to Rose's near life-time confinement.
The movie is constructed around twin time periods; Rose and Green's relationship in what is fairly clearly, late 20th century Ireland and a mid-twenties aged Rose (Rooney Mara) living in the early WW2 period in the coastal village of Sligo, which despite its extremely attractive exteriors, harbours a number of malcontents seeking to subjugate the independently-thinking, but arresting young woman.
I was able to follow the story quite easily, but I think Sheridan should have been more overt in drawing links between IRA members/sympathisers who were willing to assist the German cause in neutral Catholic Ireland during the war, because they were fighting the British whose territory included Protestant Northern Ireland. I have to admit too, that I 've never heard of aerial dogfights occurring over neutral Ireland (I stand to be corrected if indeed they took place). And as for the coincidence of Rose's one love, being shot down and essentially parachuting into what was just about her back yard, ... well, to say it's frankly unbelievable is quite probably an understatement.
Nevertheless Mara is enchanting as the young Rose and as mentioned, I found the tragic telling of her largely unrecognised war-time romance and its aftermath generations later, generally quite absorbing, without ever degenerating into melodrama. The film also examines the sins the all powerful and influential Irish Catholic Church perpetuated on individuals such as Rose, sins that only it is beginning now, to take some responsibility for, many years after the fact. The twist climax (which I gather is not in the book), which many may see coming around two-thirds of the way through the film, is still welcome and provides what I believe is a well-deserved, more hopeful ending, after we witness the many misfortunes Rose has had to endure during her earlier life.
The Secret Scripture doesn't stand as a great film romance, but it is undeniably an interesting, though perhaps unlikely one, set in a visually striking location. In my opinion it is worthy of more than a little attention on the part of serious movie audiences.
Rose McNulty (Vanessa Redgrave) has been a patient in an Irish sanitarium for 50 years since being accused of murdering her baby in 1942. The facility is scheduled for demolition and patients are being redeployed. She refuses to leave and Dr. Stephen Grene (Eric Bana) a psychiatrist is asked by the local Catholic Church to investigate her case. In doing so, he and a sympathetic nurse uncover Rose's bible, the secret scripture of the title, in which she has written and drawn an account of her life before her incarceration for allegedly killing her newborn son in 1942. Using the book and interviews with Rose, over the next 3 days, before she will be forced to leave, Grene pieces together the events leading to Rose's near life-time confinement.
The movie is constructed around twin time periods; Rose and Green's relationship in what is fairly clearly, late 20th century Ireland and a mid-twenties aged Rose (Rooney Mara) living in the early WW2 period in the coastal village of Sligo, which despite its extremely attractive exteriors, harbours a number of malcontents seeking to subjugate the independently-thinking, but arresting young woman.
I was able to follow the story quite easily, but I think Sheridan should have been more overt in drawing links between IRA members/sympathisers who were willing to assist the German cause in neutral Catholic Ireland during the war, because they were fighting the British whose territory included Protestant Northern Ireland. I have to admit too, that I 've never heard of aerial dogfights occurring over neutral Ireland (I stand to be corrected if indeed they took place). And as for the coincidence of Rose's one love, being shot down and essentially parachuting into what was just about her back yard, ... well, to say it's frankly unbelievable is quite probably an understatement.
Nevertheless Mara is enchanting as the young Rose and as mentioned, I found the tragic telling of her largely unrecognised war-time romance and its aftermath generations later, generally quite absorbing, without ever degenerating into melodrama. The film also examines the sins the all powerful and influential Irish Catholic Church perpetuated on individuals such as Rose, sins that only it is beginning now, to take some responsibility for, many years after the fact. The twist climax (which I gather is not in the book), which many may see coming around two-thirds of the way through the film, is still welcome and provides what I believe is a well-deserved, more hopeful ending, after we witness the many misfortunes Rose has had to endure during her earlier life.
The Secret Scripture doesn't stand as a great film romance, but it is undeniably an interesting, though perhaps unlikely one, set in a visually striking location. In my opinion it is worthy of more than a little attention on the part of serious movie audiences.