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| 'Doing nothing is a dangerous occupation!' |
My very first David Lean film was Lawrence of Arabia followed by Summertime, two films that I decided to seek out after seeing/hearing them mentioned in passing in other media. The former in Ridley Scott's Prometheus (of all films) and the latter in the acclaimed anime Monster. I decided to check out Ryan's Daughter because Ed Harris, my favorite actor is a big fan of the film that he even sought out the places where it was filmed during his trip to Ireland. Set in Kirrary, a small isolated village in the Dingle Peninsula in County Kerry, Ireland between World War I and Easter Rising. It tells the story of a young woman named Rosy Ryan who's bored with her life in the small village and abruptly marries the widower and local schoolteacher Charles Shaughnessy. Rosy is spoiled by her father Thomas Ryan the local pub owner who raised her to think she's better than everyone else in the village but after a few months into her marriage, Rosy confesses to Father Hugh Collins with his prodding that she's dissatisfied with her married life and the priest tries to knock some sense into her. An hour into the film Major Randolph Doryan arrives in the village where he is newly stationed in the British military base nearby. We spend time with the major who aside from his limp due to an injury suffered during the war we come to find out that he also suffers from PTSD. The major travels to the village during one of his morning walks and meets Rosy at her father's pub (while he's away) and Michael the village idiot, his PTSD is triggered by Michael but he is comforted by Rosy and that's where the film picks up.
