Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
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Ken Blackburn | ... | Galt |
Mark Bonnar | ... | Reverend Gibbon | |
Stuart Bowman | ... | Alex Mutch | |
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Emily-Jane Boyle | ... | Christine |
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Ewan Comes | ... | Newborn Guthrie Twin |
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Maelly Comes | ... | Newborn Guthrie Twin |
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Ann Overstall Comfort | ... | Mrs. Hemans (as Ann Comfort) |
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Callum Adams | ... | Alec Guthrie (as Callum Davies) |
Agyness Deyn | ... | Chris Guthrie | |
Ron Donachie | ... | Uncle Tam | |
Tom Duncan | ... | McIvor | |
David Ganly | ... | Tinker | |
Niall Greig Fulton | ... | John Brigson | |
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Caelan Fyfe | ... | Toddler Ewan (as Gaetan Fyfe) |
Jack Greenlees | ... | Will Guthrie |
Spanning the 1910 decade, six years in the life of a girl named Chris, one of the numerous children of a tyrannical Scottish farmer. Years of high hopes and of disillusionment, of mirth and sorrow, of dreaming and toiling, of sweetness and violence, of love and hate, of peace and war. And in the end, the dignified loneliness of a new Chris, a woman who seems to have gone through several lives, now and forever as one with the land, the earth eternal... Written by Guy Bellinger
I feel pity for those who have negatively reviewed this film from the point of where some of the scenic shots were or criticised the dialogue etc. I had heard the book read and the story acted on radio more than once in the past so much was familiar. I saw this in the Screen Machine (a mobile cinema which tours the Scottish Highlands and Islands). It was almost full with perhaps 75-80 there and I knew most of them so could judge their reactions and join in the conversation on the way out. For 2+ hours no-one moved - not even the handful of folk from the supposed area in Aberdeen-shire. Afterwards most felt like I did - emotionally drained. Sunset Song is not about the scenery, nor whether there were details that one or another felt weren't quite right. This was a reality check in the way in which poor country folk lived in the early part of the 20th century. It was about treating women as chattels and while I could have imagined or read about that, this was so graphic it was breathtaking. It wasn't Downton Abbey; it wasn't a Bond film but it was visually stunning and completely thought-provoking. I can't imagine anyone with a soul not being left with both a feeling of privilege to have seen it and humility that our own kin in the past lived this way. As for Agyness Deyn - amazing. Of course the accent wasn't flawless but it didn't matter. This was a brilliant and sensitive performance.