“That They May Face the Rising Sun” is an Irish film directed by award-winning director Pat Collins from a screenplay that he co-wrote.
The movie stars Barry Ward and Anna Bederke alongside accomplished Irish actors Lalor Roddy, Ruth McCabe, and Sean McGinley.
The film is an adaptation of John McGahern’s acclaimed final novel, following a year in the life of a rural lakeside community in 1970s Ireland and its cast of authentic, memorable characters.
Juno Films will be releasing the film in theaters on April 11th in New York City at the Quad, and then it will open nationwide in April.
The synopsis is: Joe (Barry Ward) and Kate Ruttledge (Anna Bederke) have returned from London to live and work among the small, close-knit community near to where Joe grew up.
Now, deeply embedded in life around the lake, the drama of a year in their lives and those of the memorable characters around them unfolds through the rituals of work, play and the passing seasons as this enclosed world becomes an everywhere.
The stirring musical score helps elevate it to a higher level, and its cinematography is visually striking.
The Verdict
Overall, “That They May Face The Rising Sun” is like a quiet storm that will take the audience back to simpler times.
It is a densely layered yet understated film that offers a vision of compassion and humanity as a way of life in the pastoral world.
Anna Bederke is sublime as Kate while Barry Ward is a force of nature as Joe, in an acting performance that is equal in excellence to Tommy Lee Jones in the Oscar-nominated film “In The Valley of Elah.”
Everybody in the supporting cast is also given their own characterization. Collins is able to pain a vivid picture of a rural community that stayed intact up until the advent of technology.
While it is a slow burner, it reaffirms that one can see the world and find the beauty in the simple things. At the same time, the viewer will enhance their knowledge because it is bound to spark conversations.
It ought to be enjoyed for its authenticity, subtleties, and simplicity. Hopefully, this movie will inspire more stories of this nature to be told in the future because this unconventional type of storytelling is not often seen or experienced in the cinema.
“That They May Face The Rising Sun” is gloriously engrossing, and it garners 4.5 out of 5 stars. Well done.
