![]() More gravely, given the importance of philosophical and psychological questions to the main themes of the film, the script often leaves us asking questions that can’t be answered without information external to it. ![]() Two clansmen lead the monks toward the Norman boundary in Pilgrimage. The script squanders its first, best chance to set the mood by wasting a scene on a dialogue with no relevance to the remainder of the film. But the film seems almost dazzled by its marvelous landscapes into meandering, particularly at the very beginning of the film. And in such a short film - and one in which one of the major characters is silent and the rest of them don’t have a shared mutual language - every line of dialogue must be used to maximum effect. One of these themes might have been successfully explored in ninety minutes, but not three. Unfortunately, it’s hard to see the script for this film (written by Jamie Hannigan) as anything other than a muddled mess. The ninety-minute film takes up some common cinematic tropes, such as Diarmuid’s metaphorical end of innocence, the nature of religious belief and doubt, particularly as these concern the supernatural, and the motif of the journey with companions, unfortunately jumbling them together in ways that are not particularly intelligible, skillful, or interesting. ![]() The reliquary that houses the relic of St. Shifting allegiances and unexpected events complicate the monks’ journey significantly, and saying anything more than that about the plot would probably be saying too much. A journey that is supposed to take four days is complicated by language difficulties, cultural conflicts, and a great deal of violence from various groups, most notably the Ua Mordha, a local clan whose members follow pagan customs, and the Norman overlords of the area, who after two centuries of attempts at colonization still wrestle for sovereignty in the constellation of pope, French king, and local politics. The visually engulfing story centers on the perceptions and reactions of Diarmuid, a young monk, as he observes both his traveling companions and the world and manners outside the monastery. Screencap.ĭirector Brendan Muldowney’s film, Pilgrimage, tells the story of a group of thirteenth-century Irish monks who traverse a corner of Ireland to take ship and bring a powerful relic to Rome in the immediate wake of the 1209.
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