Movie review: South Solitary

George Wadsworth (Barry Otto) is sent to work as head lighthouse keeper at South Solitary, a bleak island off the coast of Australia. He is accompanied by his spinster niece, Meredith (Miranda Otto), who keeps house and does some secretary work for him. The island is already inhabited by Harry Stanley, together with his rather inhospitable wife and children; and Jack Fleet, an ex-soldier left emotionally and psychologically scarred by WWI. Stanley and Fleet both work shifts at the lighthouse.

Meredith is sweet and friendly, but she has apparently been starved for affection throughout her life. Uncle Wadsworth, her only family is very crusty and undemonstrative at the best of times. Unsurprisingly, this leads to Meredith looking for love in all the wrong places, and making some major mistakes in her life.

Don't be put off by the first half of the film, which is very slow, and slightly depressing. The story doesn't begin to blossom until the last 40 minutes or so, but it's worth the wait.

South Solitary was filmed on location in Australia, at Cape Nelson and Cape Otway. I've been to the Cape Otway lighthouse, so I found it fascinating to see this beautiful place captured here on film.

There was some profanity in the dialogue, and one scene that I fast-forwarded through, as well as a couple of other scenes that were a bit uncomfortable to watch.

The verdict: a quietly beautiful film that will reward the patient viewer. South Solitary could have benefited from being half an hour shorter, but it is still more than worth sitting through. The film ends on a beautiful, uplifting note. Oh, and Tolkien fans will get a kick out of seeing Lord of the Rings alumni Miranda Otto (Eowyn) and Marton Csokas (Celeborn) reunited here. 

I shouldn't close this review without mentioning the soundtrack, and of course the scenery, both of which are stunning. *** ff 12+ YT 

Trailer | IMDb | RT

Crazy love

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog - by Caspar David Friedrich

"Was it by reason that I attained to the knowledge that I must love my neighbour and not throttle him? They told me so when I was a child, and I gladly believed it, because they told me what was already in my soul. But who discovered it? Not reason! Reason has discovered the struggle for existence and the law that I must throttle all those who hinder the satisfaction of my desires. That is the deduction reason makes. But the law of loving could not be discovered by reason, because it is unreasonable."

***

The climax of Levin's search for meaning and purpose. Anna Karenina - Book 8, Chapter 12.

In defence of fiction

A Good Book by Wybrand Hendriks

"It is untrue that fiction is nonutilitarian. The uses of fiction are synonymous with the uses of literature. They include refreshment, clarification of life, self-awareness, expansion of our range of experiences, and enlargement of our sense of understanding and discovery, perception, intensification, expression, beauty , and understanding. Like literature generally, fiction is a form of discovery, perception, intensification, expression, beauty, and understanding. If it is all these things, the question of whether it is a legitimate use of time should not even arise."

-Leland Ryken (Realms of Gold: The Classics in Christian Perspective)

***

What more is there to say, except "Amen to that!"