This is a great thriller-tragedy with a strong sense of place that suffers from what you might call a “realism hole” (rather than a plot hole) that is likely a fatal flaw for some people. It’s the kind of thing I would nit pick to the point of distraction in a different film, one that wasn’t so in my wheelhouse. If you can overcome that problem, this is a great, intense film that delivered some of the best tension I’ve seen in a film in a while.

SPOILERS

So first off, this movie is my catnip: it has a great sense of place, it doesn’t bother with backstory and doesn’t want to explain too much, the score is subtle and well-used, and the acting is good. Take away a few of those elements, and maybe I don’t like it as much, or I get obsessed about the rather big problem. But, because it’s the kind of film I’m going to like, I was very easily able to overlook something that would absolutely ruin a different film for me.

So here’s the thing: this is a film about a baby that is found in the waves on an island presumably somewhere off the coast of Newfoundland or Labrador that has magical powers. The baby is either a god or a mutant, depending on how you think about these things, but either way the island community makes a pact to shut out the rest of the world. And, well, in 2023, that’s just not possible. There is no way that a community in Canada could never have a single visitor for 10 years. It’s beyond improbable. That is likely a fatal flaw for some people. It would be for me in a film I didn’t like so much. (It’s also arguable that the fact that there hadn’t been a tragedy like the thing that sets off the rising action in the film in 10 years is also improbable.)

I say don’t le this bother you. Try to put it aside as I did and enjoy the movie, because it’s worth it.

As I said at the outset, the film has a great sense of place. Though the accents maybe aren’t always there but it feels very much like a remote village in Newfoundland. And the acting, aside from the accents, is great. Fisher in particular is excellent as the matriarch of the island. The score is nice an inobtrusive and I suspect was one of the reasons helping me feel the extreme tension in the climax (though I didn’t notice it as I was distracted by what was on screen).

Also, there is a tradition of horror-esque films where an outsider has to visit a strange, traditional island community and bad things happen. I like how this film sort of flips that on its head. Beginning among the villagers of The Wicker Man, as it were, rather than following the cop.

The climax is one of the tensest scenes I’ve seen in a while and I think is worth it despite how you can absolutely question the likelihood of the authorities taking 10 years to show up. It’s improbable, sure. I don’t care.

SPOILERS really begin

To me, many films are richer when they have multiple readings. And this one has a few allegorical interpretations. You could say it’s about climate change, sure, or about any human community ruining itself over a shared resource. There is another interpretation here that I don’t like as much which is the idea that small, isolated communities cannot be trusted with their own resources, or their best people, or both. I suspect one reason for this film’s lowish rating on IMDB is that some people read the arrival of the cop and the social worker like that. I choose to see their arrival merely as the match that lights the powder keg. I think these people would have self-destructed without their arrival, eventually, and I believe the film shows that.

I really like how the film never wants to explain the why. That’s key with power like this. Any explanation for Isla’s gift is likely to be unsatisfactory to at least some of the audience. The way to handle it is to make the audience as ignorant as the characters and this film does that really well. I also really like how the downside to her power, the dark side as it were, is there but basically unknown until, well, Chekov’s insects or what have you.

I really, really liked this. I’m giving it lower marks than I want to because I understand that a Canadian village being unknown and untouched by the outside world for 10 years is impossible. It’s The Village and nobody liked that movie. (This is better!)

8/10