Country

A well told if conventional tale of rural bigotry, narrow horizons and pointless feuds, this steady, painstaking movie centres on a a farmer's household in Co. Down - belt-wielding father Frank (Cave, first rate), resentful son Con (Lydon) and young Jack (Pritchard) - into which comes emotional/dramatic catalyst Miriam (Harrow, struggling with the accent). The villain is Mike Clifford, a hater of wide-ranging appetite, and an agent of corruption/destruction with regard to the innocence and hopes of the entire Murphy family. Writer/director Liddy favours gently heightened imagery (rather overdoing the rhapsodic barley-field landscapes) and seems unashamed of his allegiance to the Ladybird Book of Cinematic Symbolism. But his trust in the impact of patiently rendered universal emotions more than pays off.