The Road Dance

A young girl living on an island in the Hebrides at the beginning of WW1 falls in love, but her joy turns to deep despair.

It's rare we find a film like this. The story clutches you as soon as it starts. The music is so haunting and poignant. The acting from every single character in the film is top notch. The dialogue is only what needs to be said, with not a single word out of place. The direction is second to none and leads you through a young girls dream that becomes her worst nightmare.

These kind of films are what make me have a life long love of cinema.

They don't need special effects, they don't need blockbuster actors, they don't need trendy directors nor pretentious sound tracks.

If you love cinema, you will love this.

THE ROAD DANCE was a wonderful surprise of a movie! The title, THE ROAD DANCE, didn't give any significant indication of the themes or style of the movie. However, this film is a lesson in life, family, friendship, and love - and the incredible pressures imposed on women in certain periods of history (and in some modern contexts still) to conform to social mores that oppress women and have the potential to destroy their lives.

The story takes place on the Outer Hebrides in Scotland during WWI just before the war breaks out. The main character of this deeply moving movie is a young girl named Kirsty McLeod, who lives in a small village that is patriarchal and rigidly conservative. Kirsty's character shows us how courage, strength, and determination can prevail even in the most oppressive of circumstances. She's a bright, beautiful girl who dreams of a better life and the chance to go for her dreams. Then a profound tragedy strikes, and things begin to unravel quickly. Kirsty is forced to choose between societal expectations of a woman or a more liberated choice that could potentially cost her everything she holds dear.

The cinematography of THE ROAD DANCE is stunning. The movie does an exquisite job of conveying a sense of the dark beauty of the Outer Hebrides. The strong female characters are all incredibly passionate and dynamic, and they find strength in each other during this most challenging time. Hermione Corfield, who plays Kirsty, is fantastic as she takes us through an emotionally intense journey, and she carries the movie with her breathtaking acting performance.

I won't say too much more about the plot, as it should be experienced in full, but I will say that THE ROAD DANCE is an important movie which every woman and man should watch. My only criticism is that the story should have ended before the actual end (if that makes sense) which seemed rushed and highly contrived. That aside, I was deeply moved by THE ROAD DANCE. It is an incredible film and I highly recommend it - go see it!

A reasonable film, well acted and beautifully shot.

A tragidrama in many ways, with a bit of mystery thrown in too, the themes of futility in war and also that of women's roles in early 20th century and the associated hardships and cultural taboos that come with that territory are all well-explored.

The film has two weaknesses in my view, the first is the ending - I won't go into too much detail but it is disappointing and departs from what it was building up to. The film would be an 8/10 if it finished ten mins earlier.

The 2nd is the setting and language. It isn't believable for a small Lewis village to be entirely English speaking in 1916 (it isn't believable in rural Lewis in 2023 even), which jars from fully immersing in the scene and finding it realistic.

This could have been circumnavigated either by having the film at least bilingual between Scottish Gaelic and English, or by setting the film somewhere just as rugged and isolated in Scotland but known to be English speaking eg. Shetland or Orkney would have worked just as well, and then slightly changing the rural activity from potato crofting to something else to suit the different location if needed.

Insisting on keeping the setting as Lewis, and even more so in that time, but with a 100% English language film was a mistake in my book.

Still a solid watch all the same, where you root for the protagonist.

Stunningly Filmed, beautifully felt... a perfect period piece that was felt by all in the cinema. I very much enjoyed this whole film. A little bit of everything for me. Location, accents, romance, heart ache, strong women, heroic men, mystery and love. The close up vision of each actress and actor were stunning and gentle. I would highly recommend seeing this one on a big screen if possible, to appreciate the grand, vast lands that the film was set in. Thank you for a story so beautifully told. Critics that did not enjoy this film, would be hard pressed to please, perfect for this very busy time of the year.

Saw this last night and went in knowing nothing. It blew me away with the exceptional performances, as well as how well written and beautifully shot it is. It is an extremely difficult watch at points, as it has some brutal moments, but it's never gratuitous.