The Secret Scripture 2016

      This film is based on a novel by Sebastian Barry and it's one of the McNulty Family series of books.  Roseanne McNulty has been in a mental institution since 1942 and it’s been over 60 years.  The hospital is located in Roscommon, Ireland.  Dr. William Grene is the hospital’s psychiatrist and he’s called in by the local Catholic Church to assess her condition.  Rosanne can be transferred to another institution or she can be released.  Roseanne’s present story is told and her past is told in flashbacks.  She became an orphan in 1940 and she left Northern Ireland to live with her aunt in the Irish Republic.  Because she is very beautiful, several of the local men are interested in seeing her.  One of the men is Michael McNulty but he soon leaves to join the RAF.  The local Catholic priest Father Gaunt offers her inappropriate attention.  This attention causes her aunt to send her away from her job in her aunt’s pub.  She goes to live in a deserted farmhouse outside the village.

     While I was watching this film, I wondered if it was based on a true story or if it fiction?  Sebastian Barry has written three earlier books set in County Sligo, Ireland.  I don’t want to give too many details about this story but it is possible for it to be true.  I thought her aunt, the townspeople, the nurses and the doctors treated Roseanne unfairly.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)            

108 min, Drama directed by Jim Sheridan with Rooney Mara, Eric Bana, Aidan Turner, Theo James, Vanessa Redgrave, Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Jack Reynor, Susan Lynch, Adrian Dunbar, Pauline McLynn, Elva Trill, John Connors.

Note:  Imdb 6.7 out of 10, 32% critic 62% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 467 reviews, Metacritic 37 out of 100 with 10 critics, The Irish Times 2* out of 5*, Guardian Wendy Ide 2* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in County Sligo, Kilkenny, Wicklow and Dublin, Ireland.  Originally Jonathan Rhys Meyers was cast as Father Gaunt but he dropped out when the project was delayed.  Jessica Chastain was to star as young Roseanne but she also dropped out.  The novel has 4.3* out of 58 with 246 reviews.  Shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, Los Angeles Times Book Prize Finalist, Winner of the Costa Book of the Year Award, Winner of the Irish Novel of the Year.