(1993) After sharing what she'd seen, "Got to get them to move back," says the fair lass Fiona Coneelly (Jeni Courtney) to her older cousin Eamon (Richard Sheridan), convinced that her grandparents must return to the little island Roan Inish, which the families had evacuated about three years earlier.

Her father Jim and the others (including Fiona) departed after her mother Brigid, the last to be married on Roan Inish, died in 1946; as her father and older brother were preparing to leave, following everyone else, her baby brother Jamie in his cradle was washed out to sea.

Sent away from the city (not a place to raise a pale, frail-looking child) to stay with her grandparents, Hugh (Mick Lally) and Tess (Eileen Colgan), Fiona listens to her grandfather's story of his great-grandfather Sean Michael Coneelly's miraculous survival from a sea storm, brought to shore by a seal.

The sea gives and the sea takes away; there are those who say a drowning man shouldn't be rescued as he will turn to wickedness. On the island, Fiona discovers signs of someone having been in the cottage where she formerly resided; after noticing a young seal, which she believes has taken particular notice of her, she names him Jax. Eamon tells her a legend of the seals stealing a girl for their queen.

When she asks Flynn the grocer about "the dark ones," he introduces her to dark-haired, dark-eyed Tadgh Coneelly (John Lynch), a former sailor whom others call daft - knows not if he's awake or dreaming. He tells Fiona, not easily frightened, the tale of Liam, who took possession of a selkie (half female, half seal) by keeping its hide after she'd shed it; after marrying Nuala, Liam carved a cradle from a shipwreck's timbers for each of their children. That cradle was handed down for generations until Jamie disappeared in it.

Based on the book, Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry, by Rosalie Fry, director/screenwriter John Sayler's film is family fare. Fiona comes to understand that the sea was angry with the family for leaving Roan Inish; going back is the only way to recover what has been lost.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in video and/or DVD format, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2009 Patrick Ivers. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Patrick Ivers can be reached via e-mail at .