Everything in This Country Must

An armed car ploughs into a civilian car on a country road, killed a woman and her young son. Two years later a man and his daughter find themselves overwhelmed by the rain and struggling to save their horse from the flooded river. The army pass by on patrol and come to their help, although the man does not want their help because it was his wife and son that were killed years ago.

Although relying very heavily on one major coincidence to produce the narrative, this film still produces a good story that engages while also serving as a look at the issues of forgiveness within the Northern Ireland conflict. The father is the focus of the film for it is his inability to forgive and the state's inability to provide justice that feed his anger and pain. This would have been better if it had not been painted so simply and in broad strokes by the writer, but as it is it comes off as a rather simplistic and tidy summing up of the conflict – the last line of the film being a fine example of this. It is interesting enough to do the job and perhaps, having lived in NI for most of my life, I'm too familiar with the subject to be able to get much from this film, but I doubt that was the problem.

Forgiveness is an issue in NI, and the idea of civilians being killed through Army negligence is certainly correct but this film doesn't do anything clever or insightful with it. Its simplicity is a strength in the regard that it doesn't make the mistakes that so many film versions of Northern Ireland do, but the "message" is a bit corny and delivered in such a basic fashion that it betrays the complexity of the emotions and situation in real life. A worthy try that is well directed and makes good use of its budget but it falls well short of the mark.

EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY MUST has received a lot of critical acclaim amongst short film aficionados but I'm slightly puzzled as to why . I will confess that it's a very well made short film where things like cinematography , editing and acting are concerned but I'm trying to work out the subtext to what it means . Thankfully we don't have any blatant Irish American views of the troubles ( I notice this short is of American origin ) and after seeing American financed garbage like SOME MOTHER'S SON and THE DEVIL'S OWN for that we should be grateful . I guess it's perhaps something to do with the climax where the father cuts off his nose to spite his face , or it's the little things with the directing like soldiers leaving their loaded weapons against a wall which is something that any soldier doing his basic training wouldn't do , or maybe it's because EVERYTHING IN THIS COUNTRY MUST feels more like it belongs in another medium like the theatre

I saw this film during the Dublin Film Festival, with both director and writer sitting behind me, and it had been billed as an Academy Award nominee, so the feeling of pressure on me to like it was substantial! Not surprisingly though, it left me cold, as films that's subject matter is Northern Ireland usually do! Now I was a little biased into not liking it as the plot line - a girl who has to choose between her Catholic father or the British soldier who saves her horse's life - didn't captivate me. Almost instantly it is obvious it is based on a short story, the narration is wordy and unnatural-sounding. Then we get the identikit characters - the British Army soldiers, comprised of the geezer, the quiet one & the embittered old pro; and the father, a Brit-hating Catholic man. Even for a short film there is no character development, the girl is two dimensional at best & the father is poorly written. Even the finale left me cold, instead of being dramatic it was slightly silly.

The look of the film is excellent however, it is a stylish piece. However, there is no originality here, and the fact that this has been nominated for an Oscar just shows that America are lapping up the stereotypical Troubles stories as much as ever.

"Everything in This Country Must" is a superbly done film. The direction, acting, story/writing, cinematography, action sequences/effects, music, production value all come together to deliver a remarkably engrossing and ultimately touching cinematic experience.

The story centers on a young British soldier in Northern Ireland who is involved in an accident that kills a mother and her child. Later, the same soldier helps a farmer and his daughter save their drowning horse.

The film was shot on location in Northern Ireland, the genuine locale truly enriching the story. It is masterfully directed by Gary McKendry and superbly produced by Larry Gold.

Be it short film or feature length, "Everything in This Country Must" is one of the most satisfying cinematic experiences I've had in a long time. I highly recommend this film.