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The Darkest Light (1999)

Director: Simon Beaufoy, Bille Eltringham

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From Time Out Film Guide

Farm life in the Yorkshire Dales isn't easy at the best of times, but things are exceptionally tough for Tom (Dillane) and Sue (Fox). Their eight-year-old son (Walton) has leukaemia, and the doctors aren't making headway. Meanwhile, Catherine (Arnold), ten, feels lonely and neglected; befriending Uma (Sungha), the first Hindu at the village school, she takes her to the Moors. Something strange happens, which Catherine interprets as a vision of the Virgin Mary, and a sign her brother will be all right. Uma, though, is terrified by the implications of what they've seen. Co-directed from Beaufoy's screenplay, this is the latest installment in the writer's project to carve out a distinctive Yorkshire cinema. The directors pick up on the exoticism of a terrain incorporating both ancient limestone pavements and wind farms, but these flourishes sit uncomfortably with a subdued aesthetic that wouldn't look out of place in the British TV soap Emmerdale. A good actor, Dillane is nevertheless an unlikely Dalesman. On the plus side, young Arnold works wonders, and you can hardly fail to be moved by the end.

Author: TCh 0000-00-00 00:00:00

Time Out Film Guide