The Road Dance

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!

Was pleasantly surprise by the structure of the film,very well photographed,good script , strong cast.the ending through me a curve ball even though my wife had guessed it earlier.keepa up a good run of UK films .well done.

I read some of the comments here and I agree with most of them. A very heart wrenching and genuinely touching story well and convincingly played by the main actress Hermione Corfield. A good thing that we see independent movies reach this level of performance. Until just now there where a 196 ratings with an overall rating of 7.1. What got me fuming though is that there where still 20 votes that gave this gem a rating of 1. Instead of just giving a rating they should have made a review as there is absolutely NO justification with so much real awkward movies about well deserving of the lowest rating possible. In the beginning it was mentioned that the movie was inspired by true events which I find rather misleading. Of course one can always claim that something is inspired by true events. Doesn't mean to say that it was based on an actual true story. But like I say fiction or not. This are two hours of truly enjoyable viewing pleasure.

I don't know why nobody is talking about this film. What starts out as a Catherine Cookson-esque costume drama in the Outer Hebrides during the First World War, complete with love triangles and suppressed passion - the kind of twee romance you've seen a thousand times before - morphs into something dark, gripping and gut-wrenchingly painful that leaves you exhausted but strangely uplifted by the end credits.

The power of this film lies in its authenticity and its ability to get into the skin of a character and allow you to see the world through her eyes. For an actress, it's the role of a lifetime, and Hermione Corfield is phenomenal, bringing you along with her through every trauma and every heartbreak. It is this central performance that really elevates the material to something that stands out from the crowd.

It's not for everyone. It moves at a slow and sedate pace, lingering in the landscape and giving scenes the space to breathe. And a warning: it can be quite triggering if you've experienced past traumas. But ultimately, this is a story about survival and about resilience in the face of the agonies women are often faced with. The only negative is the rather saccharin final scene. If they'd ended it a scene earlier, I'd probably give this a ten. But it is inspired by a true story, so perhaps it's true to life. The Road Dance certainly deserves a wider audience.

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.