The Secret of Roan Inish
Mar. 18th, 2006 12:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astroaztecThe St. Patrick's day DVD fare was this film from 1993 about life on the islands of northwestern Ireland circa 1946.
The plot includes a myth about a selkie. In this case a selkie is a seal who can take off its skin to reveal an underlying human form. If someone takes the skin he can control the selkie.
One story within the story tells of a fisherman who captured and then married a selkie. She lived with the humans and bore children until the day her eldest daughter asked her why their father kept a raincoat hidden in the roof. The selkie found her skin and returned to the sea, for ``neither chains of steel nor chains of love'' could hold her back. That story is from generations ago, but it serves to motivate the more upbeat main plot.
One of the others watching remarked ``How'd he think any good was gonna come by keeping a creature away from its own self?''
The cinematography is glorious, the editing keeps the pacing almost always right, the young actress conveys the alien aspects of the situation, the bits of music are evocative, and the mystery is deep from beginning to end.
The plot includes a myth about a selkie. In this case a selkie is a seal who can take off its skin to reveal an underlying human form. If someone takes the skin he can control the selkie.
One story within the story tells of a fisherman who captured and then married a selkie. She lived with the humans and bore children until the day her eldest daughter asked her why their father kept a raincoat hidden in the roof. The selkie found her skin and returned to the sea, for ``neither chains of steel nor chains of love'' could hold her back. That story is from generations ago, but it serves to motivate the more upbeat main plot.
One of the others watching remarked ``How'd he think any good was gonna come by keeping a creature away from its own self?''
The cinematography is glorious, the editing keeps the pacing almost always right, the young actress conveys the alien aspects of the situation, the bits of music are evocative, and the mystery is deep from beginning to end.
