One of the worst aspects of war in general is that it always interferes with the hopes and dreams of the people that are living through it. The Road Dance depicts a small Scottish village in World War I, and a woman whose plan had been interfered with. It’s a bleak story, one that’s been inspired from an anecdote passed down through generations, but while the film doesn’t claim to be accurate, it does depict a tragedy that is difficult to talk about with sensitivity and the rare compassion that was granted sporadically to real life survivors. Writer-director Richie Adams softens some of the dark parts from John MacKay’s original novel, and while some of the plot veers a tad too much to melodrama, the three leading women– Hermione Corfield, Morven Christie, and Ali Fumiko Whitney– depict the central family with grace amidst the stunning landscape of the Outer Hebrides. The Road Dance can be triggering, but it’s worth watching for people that love period dramas.
Synopsis
A young girl lives in the Outer Hebrides in a small village in the years just before WWI. Isolated and hard by the shore, her life takes a dramatic change when a terrible tragedy befalls her.
Storyline
Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, 1910s. Dreaming of a better life away from the island, Kirsty Macleod is resigned to stay, especially when her lover Murdo and the village’s young men get conscripted for service for the Great War. The village decides to hold a road dance in their honor, which shifts Kirsty’s life forever.
TLDR
Avoid this movie if the topics of rape, pregnancy, and miscarriage are triggering for you.
What stands out
The night of the road dance is a tough scene to watch, and had this been shown alone, this film would not be recommended. But it’s followed with emotional, cathartic scenes between the leading family, and the support that they lend to each other is what makes this film work.
