A film about promises and secrets, this love story begins in1941 in Branagan, Michigan, takes us to Belfast during World War II, and during the ‘troubles’ in 1991, and completes the circle back in the US. Attenborough’s direction allows the audience to be active throughout, working out what is happening, calculating back to what must have happened earlier, and putting pieces of the puzzle together.
Three friends all love Ethel Ann (Mischa Barton) although why they all love her is not clear. She’s very lovely to look at, but the script doesn’t give clues as to what makes her so exceptional that they love her for as long as they live. Her desirability is central to the story; the audience needs to feel as passionate about Ethel Ann as do Teddy, Jack and Chuck.
Ethel-Anne chooses Teddy (Stephen Amell) and the two secretly marry because Teddy is believed to be not good enough for Ethel Ann. Say what? Teddy is handsome, polite, well-spoken, hard-working and decent. He’s building her a huge house on his own land with his bare hands; how much more proof do we need of his righteousness? Shortly after the wedding the three friends go off to war in Europe but, before they leave, Teddy selects Chuck to ‘look after’ Ethel Ann if he should die. Horribly, he does, and Chuck returns to fulfill his promise.
Fast forward to 1991 and the mature Ethel Ann is played by Shirley MacLaine who conveys a rather brittle sophistication and cynicism alongside a private, yet apparent, emotional depth. She is remote from, and uncommunicative and unpleasant towards her daughter, Marie (Neve Campbell). Marie becomes increasingly frantic at not getting answers and turns to Jack (Christopher Plummer) for help, but no-one will tell her the truth. Ethel Ann’s buried pain needs to be excavated and it takes a stranger on the other side of the world to expose the truth.
On Black Mountain Michael (Pete Postlethwaite) spends his days digging for relics of the plane crash which he witnessed fifty years earlier. He’s joined by Jimmy (Martin McCann), a lively and enthusiastic lad who lives with his grandmother (Brenda Fricker). These are solid, believable characters and scenes set in Northern Ireland are particularly enjoyable with cracking dialogue, humour and fine performances throughout. Sinister IRA figures provide acute tension and dark realism.
Ebullient and somewhat naïve Jimmy makes a nice contrast with world-weary Ethel Ann and troubled Michael. Not yet wounded, all his emotions out in the open, he is the catalyst who releases Michael from his lifelong quest, and Ethel Ann from her locked-in grief so that healing can begin and reconciliation is made possible.
Apart from the unlikely Barton-MacLaine transition and expecting an audience to believe that gorgeous, gentlemanly Teddy is not perfect marriage material, this is a tender, moving film.
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