The Road Dance: 1 (Hebrides)

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That’s difficult, there really are so many. The cast all went for a day out in Harris, and we saw beautiful waterfalls and scenery. That was the last weekend, when the film had all been wrapped, so we were sad it was coming to an end, and it was good to have a day out altogether. The Guardian review gave the film 3/5 stars, stating "Although a little too performatively Scottish at times, this is a competently made weepie that should please fans of the book." [9] The Sydney Morning Herald gave the film 3.5/5 stars and praised the filming locations and the strong cast. [10] The Irish Times gave the film 3/5 stars. They praised the acting and production but compared the story to an afternoon movie along the lines of a Catherine Cookson novel. [11] Awards [ edit ] After finishing the book, there was no doubt in his mind that a feature film needed to be made about The Road Dance.”

I try to visit every year, often more than once. The Isle of Lewis is a touchstone for me. I still have aunts and cousins there, which adds to the pleasure of going.” Under the watchful eyes of family and neighbours young people clutch a bible,keep up appearances and enjoy dances as a way to socialise,snatch intimate moments and add joy to their hardworking lives. Would you like to have your home in America Father?’ Her father was silent for a moment as he looked to the ship before he stooped and swept her up in his strong arms.

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Hermione Corfield delivers a strong performance as Kirsty, and the cinematography captures the beauty and loneliness of the isolated island. However, the film fails to deliver the emotional impact that the subject matter demands. The story touches on issues of patriarchy and parochialism, but these themes are not explored in-depth. The film also suffers from comparison to Terence Davies' Sunset Song, which is a more nuanced and complex portrayal of women's experiences in a historical setting.

First and foremost, it is the land and seascape. The island beaches are beautiful and quiet and such a contrast to the hectic life of the city. Time slips away when you are sitting on a shoreline as the sea strokes the sand and the wind shifts around you. History is never far away, and I can see the marks of my forebears all around me and that gives me an incredibly strong connection.” Credit: Parkland Entertainment At its Edinburgh International Film Festival world premiere last August, the feature film staved off nearly 200 film and documentary submissions to win the coveted Audience Award, voted for by the viewing public.Now, in an exclusive interview ahead of its cinematic release in the UK and Ireland on May 20, the film’s American producer Jim Kreutzer has spoken to The Courier about the opportunist phone call that led to the movie. She is in love with a man named Murdo, who is interested in poetry and wants to emigrate to the United States. However, before he can do so, he must go to fight in World War I. At a dance to send off the village's young men to war, Kirsty is raped. She tells no one, and the local doctor who treats her injuries makes the rape her secret.

Richie Adams’ task in the film of The Road Dance was to bring that story, inspired by true events, to life in another media. The written word allows authors the freedom to get inside the heads of characters and to convey what they are thinking; it is not always an easy thing to translate the contents of a novel into a visual format where those unspoken thought processes and feelings must be communicated through the emotions and the script. I have a love-hate relationship with film adaptations; sometimes they work, sometimes they are appallingly bad, but always they must, by necessity, take occasional liberties with the original. The Road Dance is no different in that. Much of the complexity of the story is removed, but what has emerged is something that is beautiful to view, disturbing in its subject matter, respectful of the original and that carries weighty resonance in today’s Me-Too culture. It was the power of the story that drew me first. Everything else followed from there. I found that when I began writing The Road Dance, I had a strong sense of place and community because of my family connections and the time had spent there. After the positive reaction to The Road Dance, especially people’s appreciation of the setting, it made sense to set my other stories there. My most recent novel, Home (Luath Press 2021), could only have been set in the Western Isles because it charts the lives of different generations who pass through one home. That doesn’t really happen in urban areas.” Meanwhile, the men from the village are fighting in the war, and news of their deaths is slowly revealed. Murdo, Kirsty's lover, writes letters from the front and promises to take care of her if anything happens to him. He even provides her with fare to New York, where his uncle lives. As the war continues and the situation on the island becomes increasingly difficult, Kirsty must make a difficult decision about her future However, when Murdo is conscripted their plans are scuppered, and it is what happens to Kirsty after the villagers hold a grand road dance to send their young men off to battle that becomes the focus of the story. Filming for the all important road dance scene gets underway. Credit: Parkland EntertainmentObviously, distribution presents a whole new approach and dynamic with all movie houses throughout the world being closed,” she said. I’m a journalist by profession and what always grabs me is the story. I had an ambition to write a novel – as many of us do – and when I heard the story that formed the basis of The Road Dance, I knew that if I didn’t write it, I would never write anything.” We walked a very thin line between telling the true story – it was based on true events – yet at the same time making it entertaining and not so terribly dark and depressing that no one would want to see it. Kirsty Macleod, perfectly depicted by Hermione Corfield, is film’s strong female protagonist. She falls in love with Murdo MacAuley, a young boy from the community, played by Will Fletcher, and together they dream of leaving the island for the US, escaping the scrape of the land, the repression of the church and the inevitability of their lives if they stayed.

My previous acting experience involved the challenging role of playing a newsreader in a TV drama. And my voice was overdubbed with an English accent. This is an extract. Read the full feature, in the July/August issue of Scotland, out on 17 June. Buy your copy here. The Road Dance is out in cinemas on now. This was the only world Kirsty MacLeod knew, but she dreamed of more. There had always been restlessness within her; it was the very essence of her. She read in her Bible of peoples and of lands so different from anything she knew.’ Released to tie in with the acclaimed film tie-in, The Road Dance follows Kirsty MacLeod, a beautiful young woman, coveted by all the young men of her island village. She dreams of America, of following the setting sun west to a better life. She meets the man who promises to make her dreams come true, but then the Great War breaks out. You can read an extract of the book, and watch the film trailer, below. Maryilene, who understood the family-centric “small-ness” of Scotland through her parents’ roots on the Isle of Bute, worked hard behind the scenes to convince the people of Lewis that they were serious about the project and keeping islanders safe.Describing him as “very much a gentleman” and “very humble” throughout the process, John didn’t ask for much other than for his son to play the bagpipes in the movie. The local boys are soon called up for conscripted service, and at a farewell dance, a fight breaks out between Iain and Murdo. In the most harrowing event of the night, Kirsty is brutally raped. She conceals her pregnancy for almost seven months, fearing the ruin of her reputation and the shame it would bring to her family. Murdo continues to write letters from the front, expressing his love for Kirsty and urging her to move to New York if anything happens to him.