Set in the Outer Hebrides, a verdant archipelago to the west of mainland Scotland, “The Road Dance” is a standard period drama that arrives at hard truths with a hammy delivery.
Kirsty (Hermione Corfield) is a restless beauty living with her sister and mother in a remote crofting (small tenant farming) community. It’s the years around World War I, and forced conscriptions are sweeping the nation — including Kirsty’s beau, a poetry-reading softy named Murdo (Will Fletcher).
Before Murdo and three other local men are shipped off to the Western Front, the village honors them with a night of dance and drink. It’s here that Kirsty will be violently raped, an assault which the director, Richie Adams, depicts blurrily, unfolding in darkness.
Adapted from the 2002 Scottish best seller by John MacKay, this run-of-the-mill weepie spends the bulk of its time detailing the aftermath of the attack. Kirsty becomes pregnant, and she’s forced to conceal not just her physical state but her mental trauma from the snooping members of her ultrareligious town. Cryptic sermon scenes about sinners and Satan play throughout Kirsty’s ordeal, raising the stakes — though Kirsty’s not the only one who has gone through hell and back in these parts, as evidenced by a whisper network of wizened women who band together to pull her through.
The culprit remains unknown until the bitter end, a revelation served with a bland sort of twist — that any man is capable of such violence. It’s an uninspired take, along with the use of rape as a plot device.
Shifting between stagy sincerity and startling realism (the labor scene is particularly colorful), “The Road Dance” is a vividly rendered, if ultimately schematic portrait of feminine resilience.
The Road Dance
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 56 minutes. In theaters and on demand.
