Although "The Secret Scripture" was based on the Sebastian Barry novel, the film has the feel of real historical drama set in Ireland in the mid-twentieth century. The expansive story covers the period of 1942-92, and the focus is on the horrific experience of a woman trapped in the religious strife and the sick morality of the age.
The film proceeds with flashbacks as Rose McNulty has spent a half century in the barbaric Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital where she was incarcerated primarily through a letter of condemnation written by a priest, who accused her of "nymphomania" in the mid-1940s. By the 1990s, even the clinicians are unsure about how to spell the archaic word nymphomania.
But in the 1940s, in the small town of Ballytivnan in County Slligo, young Rose was instructed not to even look a man in the eyes, due to the Victorian morals of the age. The priest who condemned her to hell in the asylum lusted after her, and when she refused his advances, he retaliated with a vengeance.
Rose was formally married, but the cruel staff of the asylum did not bother to check the records. While her husband Michael was eventually killed in militant Irish religious schism, Rose delivered his child while leading a life of agony in the asylum. The film develops a melodramatic plot about what happened to the child after Rose made a daring escape and gave birth to a baby boy on the beach.
One of the great strengths of the film is the sublime acting of Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave as the young and elderly Rose McNulty. For fifty years, Rose has kept a kind of diary through scribbling notes and drawing pictures in her Bible. Her musings form the "secret" scripture of the film's title.
The cinematography was breathtaking with the Irish landscape and the tides that momentarily portend a possible escape for Rose. But even that brief ray of hope is denied her. It is difficult to imaging more cruelty to a human being than the destiny of Rose McNultry. The film raised awareness about just how cruel human beings can be to one another, with the flagrant hypocrisy of morality, religion, and war serving as a smokescreen for the deeper and more troubling aspects of human nature.
The film proceeds with flashbacks as Rose McNulty has spent a half century in the barbaric Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital where she was incarcerated primarily through a letter of condemnation written by a priest, who accused her of "nymphomania" in the mid-1940s. By the 1990s, even the clinicians are unsure about how to spell the archaic word nymphomania.
But in the 1940s, in the small town of Ballytivnan in County Slligo, young Rose was instructed not to even look a man in the eyes, due to the Victorian morals of the age. The priest who condemned her to hell in the asylum lusted after her, and when she refused his advances, he retaliated with a vengeance.
Rose was formally married, but the cruel staff of the asylum did not bother to check the records. While her husband Michael was eventually killed in militant Irish religious schism, Rose delivered his child while leading a life of agony in the asylum. The film develops a melodramatic plot about what happened to the child after Rose made a daring escape and gave birth to a baby boy on the beach.
One of the great strengths of the film is the sublime acting of Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave as the young and elderly Rose McNulty. For fifty years, Rose has kept a kind of diary through scribbling notes and drawing pictures in her Bible. Her musings form the "secret" scripture of the film's title.
The cinematography was breathtaking with the Irish landscape and the tides that momentarily portend a possible escape for Rose. But even that brief ray of hope is denied her. It is difficult to imaging more cruelty to a human being than the destiny of Rose McNultry. The film raised awareness about just how cruel human beings can be to one another, with the flagrant hypocrisy of morality, religion, and war serving as a smokescreen for the deeper and more troubling aspects of human nature.