THE ROAD DANCE

UK, 2021, 117 minutes, Colour.

Hermione Corfield, Morven Christie, Ali Fumiko Whitney, Will Fletcher, Felicity Keenan, Scott Miller, Alison Peebles, Luke Nunn, Mark Gattis, Jeff Stewart.

Directed by Richie Adams.

The Road Dance of the title is a village celebration on the evening before some of the young men, conscripted, go to war.

This is a film of many moods. There is joy. There is great sadness, hurt. There is desperation.

The setting is the island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides. The time is 1916. There is a great deal of the old world of the 19^th century there, brick and thatched huts, no electricity, an enclosed community – although there is connection to the mainland, a postal service, doctors visiting…

In a prologue set in 1904, we are introduced to Kirsty and her father, teaching her to swim, to breathe (even though his terminal illness prevents him breathing well), looking at the liner passing their bay on its way to America, the possibility of going there from Lewis.

In 1916, Kirsty (a glowing performance from Hermione Corfield, moments of joy, moments of hurt, moments of desperation) lives with her widowed mother and younger sister. They work the land, especially growing potatoes. There is a small community, a doctor from London, the police officer, an old eccentric who doesn’t talk, Skipper, an enigmatic lady who observes everyone, and the young men who find that they are soon to go to war. One of the men is already working at an Army desk, Murdo (Will Fletcher), discreetly in love with Kirsty and she with him.

This is a slow-build film, inviting the audience to come and live in Lewis, experience what it is like, meet the people, some likeable, some unlikeable, a mix.

Then there is the Road Dance, Murdo and the other five young men celebrating before they go off, with the enthusiastic blessing of the older men for them to go to fight for King and country.

On the night of the Road Dance, Kirsty, somewhat sad with Murdo’s imminent departure, goes out and sits on the cliffs – and is violently attacked, raped, she not seeing who it was attacked her, nor does the audience. Kirsty has hit her head on stones, is found, and taken to the care of the doctor.

So, this becomes a film about women who are victimised brutally by men, the secrecy, the shame, and the consequences for the young woman, pregnant, trying to conceal the pregnancy, even from her mother and sister. Kirsty becomes a very sad woman.

While the audience will think they know where the plot is going, and identifying the attacker it actually does not, quite some complications in the village, with her mother and sister, with the doctor, with the police. It is here that the drama becomes very involving for the audience. And it is compounded by sad news from the front – with some sequences shown of the trenches and of the men going over the trenches, exposed to the guns.

The ending will give rise to a variety of reactions from the audience, the perpetual conflict between inevitable dramatic tragedy or happiness.

1. A Scottish story? The Outer Hebrides? The island of Lewis? Isolated, the connection with the mainland in communication? The Scots characters, 1916?
2. The visuals of the island, the brick and thatched homes, the store, the police, the doctor’s house, the church? The later scenes of the trenches and the battlefields? Finally in America? The musical score?
3. 1916, the Scots, part of Britain, World War I, having to serve King and Country? Murdo and his work at the desk? Coming back to the island? The other young men, the call-up, the old men urging them to serve? The night before leaving, the Road Dance? The farewell? The news of war? Letters from Murdo? The visualising of the war, the young men, in the trenches, the hardships, over the top, on the battlefield, their being killed and wounded?
4. Kirsty’s story, 1904, with her father, learning to swim, to breathe, his own illness and breathing and death? Seeing the liner going to the United States? Opening of the possibilities?
5. Kirsty in 1916, with her mother and sister, working the fields, potatoes, the sales? The place in the village? The gossip in the village? The prospect of marriage? The possibilities amongst the young men, some being urged on? Yet Kirsty’s love for Murdo, the importance of his return? The seeing each other, quietly? Love and respect?
6. The elders in the village, the policeman keeping order, the Reverend, the doctor having come from London? Their status?
7. Kirsty and her mother, memories of the father, her mother protective, Annie and her age, and her attraction to Angus?
8. The title of the film, the Road Dance, the celebration before the men went to war? Kirsty and the gift of the dress from her mother? The going to the dance? The young men, the musicians, the celebration? Murdo and his dancing with Kirsty?
9. Audience response to Kirsty in the early part of the film, lightly, vivacious, attractive? Strong personality? Her going for the walk by herself before Murdo left?
10. The scene of the rape, close-up, the audience not knowing who it was, Kirsty not knowing who it was? The head with the stone? The loss of detailed memories? The various young men and the possibilities? The after-effect, Murdo finding her, taking to the doctor, the doctor looking after her, the care? Her returning home? And the men going off the next morning? Patriotic and religious?
11. Kirsty, writing to Murdo, the letters from Murdo, the experience of the war?
12. Kirsty, her pregnancy, concealing it, the clothes? Tying cloth around herself? The months passing? Her finally confiding in her sister? Her mother’s discovery? Kirsty wanting to do something for the war effort, the old lady and the village, the women volunteering to do sewing?
13. The birth, her mother and sister, the close-ups of the birth, the effect on Kirsty?
14. The calling of the doctor, his care for her Kirsty, not revealing the birth? The policeman, concerned, visiting the home, suspicions? His wanting a second opinion?
15. The second doctor, coming from the mainland, to the house, his examination, and the audience learning later that he examined Annie?
16. Kirsty, the reflections, the realisation who the rapist had been? The confrontation with the doctor, audience surprised at his being the rapist? In the light of his story of his past history?
17. Murdo, presumed dead, his gift of the money for the fare to America, their plans? The preparations, her leaving, sailing for America?
18. In America, the sudden appearance of Murdo, prisoner of war? The happy ending?
19. Many unhappy with this ending in so far as the direction of the film was tragedy?