Le Testament caché

An intriguing story, great acting, some things could have surely been better, but overall it's more than just a good movie, much better than one could tell from it's imdb 6.7 rating

One of the things I reckon a lot of people fear, is being detained in a mental hospital. While I do think that things probably have improved over the years (dear God let that be true) in those facilities, it still wouldn't be something anyone would look forward to.

The acting is really good, the story engaging and the tension is high. You may feel squeamish at times and sickened, but that is what the movie wants you to feel. Not an easy watch then, but if you can watch it, you will find something that is worth your time and really engaging.

Superb adaptation of Sebastian Barry's book. It tells the story of Ireland's dark, and for years deliberately hidden, history with regard to the inhuman attitudes towards & treatment of unmarried mothers & their babies. Excellent performances from all but Vanessa Redgrave is simply outstanding.

I'm not going to explain the story, that has been done in other reviews. What I do want to say is this

The end of this movie brought tears to my eyes, and literally almost broke me, because I have experienced something similar. No, I didn't live in a mental institution all my life, but the pain and heartache is the same, it's excruciating, at the loss of a lover, a family member (including pets), and especially the loss of your child. At the same time the movie brought pain, it also brought healing.

Many movies can be confusing at first, and some stay that way until the very end. This was not confusing at all, you just needed to follow along, and know that eventually that everything will be clear and fit into place.

An awesome movie, exceptional acting, and the music is beautiful, especially the end title "The Cry Inside," written by Brian Byrne and performed by Kelly Clarkson. It was absolutely gorgeous, a masterpiece. Listening to it, and paying attention to the lyrics, is what finally broke me...I sobbed

"The Cry Inside" never goes away. Rose Kennedy explained it as follows ~

"It has been said, 'time heals all wounds,' I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone."

This film tells the story of a psychiatrist in Ireland, who is sent to a hospital by the Church to evaluate a woman who has been locked up in a psychiatric hospital for the past 40 years.

"The Secret Scripture" begins very slowly, and for a while I thought it wanted to be "The Notebook". It turned out not to be the case, as the plot unfolded to become a shocking story of power abuse. How the perpetrator was capable of doing such inhuman things was simply beyond me. How he lived with his conscience for 40 years was shocking as well. I managed to guess the ending before the obvious clues were given, but seeing such a satisfactory ending drove me to tears. It was really touching to see the ending, even though justice arrived in an untimely manner.