The lavish, Scottish gothic-romantic entry “The Road Dance” is based on the bestselling 2002 novel by John MacKay and set against the magnificent location of the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides just before and during World War I. The people, a crofting community in the windswept hills live modestly in small stone-walled, thatch-roofed homes, where they tend sheep and plant potatoes.
But the surroundings are breathtaking. When the story’s protagonist Kirsty Macleod (Hermione Corfield, “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword”) discovers that her beau Murdo MacAulay (Will Fletcher, “The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power”) has been hiding a copy of Charles Dickens’ “The Old Curiosity Shop” inside the cover of a Bible, she whispers, “Sacrilege.” The form of Christianity practiced by her and Murdo’s people is as severe as the weather. Murdo, who has returned from the military where he worked as a typist, also admires the work of American poet Robert Frost. Kirsty and Murdo agree to marry and move to America aboard one of the steamers they see in the distance from their cliffs. But something terrible happens. The young men of the village are called up to the front, and during a “road dance” Kirsty suffers a head injury and is raped by an unidentified man.
Murdo and the other men, including the jealous and drunken Iain Ban (Tom Byrne) and Angus (Luke Nunn), the shy beau of Kirsty’s younger sister Annie (Ali Fumiko Whitney), all leave the day after the attack on Kirsty. Before long, she suffers from morning sickness and binds her swelling belly to hide her pregnancy from prying eyes of the village busybody Old Peggy (Alison Peebles). Also living in the village is a semi-recluse named Skipper (Jeff Stewart). Kirsty’s mother sends Skipper eggs.
When you aren’t mesmerized by the candlelit interiors or the waves breaking on the cliff bottoms captured by cinematographer Petra Korner (TV’s “Shadow and Bone”), you almost get swept way by the dramatics of MacKay’s novel adapted by the director Richie Adams (“Dog Man”).
“The Road Dance” has its roots in the works of Thomas Hardy and George Eliot. Its stark, rural Scottishness is what sets it apart. The mysterious loner Doctor Macrae (Mark Gatiss) helps Kirsty after her rape. But he only treats her head injury. Kirsty keeps the rape a secret. Skipper wanders in the hills, muttering lines from, of course, “Macbeth” (The hurly-burly is so not done). Old Peg has a surprisingly helpful streak. “The Road Dance” inevitably takes a turn in the land of soap opera.
But Corfield makes Kirsty such a living part of the landscape that you cannot abandon her. As her widowed mother Mairi, Morven Christie (TV’s “The Bay”) is a sly scene stealer. It is the duty of compassionate shopkeeper Peter (Sean Gilder) to deliver dreaded telegrams to local families. The stern Constable (Ian Pirie) is not likely to let a detail slip by. Minister MacIver (Forbes Masson) reminds his congregation that they are on their way to hell. It all ends with a new beginning.
(“The Road Dance” contains mature themes, a sexually suggestive scene and war violence)
“The Road Dance”
Not Rated. On AppleTV, Amazon, Google Play and more. Grade: B
