Leathanach Deiridh

The director Michael Antonio Keane and writer Saorlaith Ni Shuibhne give their audience an intricate script to handle a story woven around a true event so subtly being respectful towards every person involved with it through this narrative featuring a mother and a daughter duo Dr. Aine (Veronica Henley) and Dearbhla (Deirbhile Lee).

 

The plot of Leathanach Deiridh revolves around true events. Unfortunate circumstances prompt a young woman to recount her story, from her birth at a mother-baby home to a life spent wondering about her lost family.

 

The film opens with a series of Mid-shots and close-up shots of a doctor of a mother and baby home to provide minute details of the conversations that took place to establish the subject matter of the film and also give the viewers a chance to build an emotional connection with the content of the movie. The camera refocuses itself as it pans into the patient to showcase the pain, and the suffering the past has inflicted upon her to not break the emotional appeal and the audience continues to feel involved with it up until the climax of the dramatic piece. The filmmakers create a flashback with just sounds that give a new twist in the form of a subplot that makes the audience wait for the culmination of the cinematic piece. The white-bluish colour pallet, the hospital setting along with natural lighting, emotional background sound, dialogues, costume, hair, and, makeup complement the sensitive topic adding elements of realism and relatability to it. The inclusion of real facts at the end of the movie assists the makers to ensure that Leathanach Deiridh stays with the audience after they have finished watching.

 

In terms of performance, Deirbhile Lee plays Dearbhla who is busy searching for her identity within herself and also the whereabouts of a family that she aspires to be with for the time left on this earth. Lee has portrayed a range of emotions and also shows the urge to continuously fight for survival and not give up inspiring the audience to learn from Dearbhla many valuable life lessons.

Veronica Henley plays the role of Dr. Aine mother of Dearbhla who is reunited with her daughter but she faces a new set of challenges and hesitates to reveal her reality to Dearbhla. Henley wonderfully depicts the love and concern as she visits her long-lost offspring but Aine is also fearful of being confronted and rejected by the young lady. The senior actress utilises body language, voice modulation, facial expression, and eyes to communicate the pain and helplessness of a mother who has to stay away from her child for reasons best known to Aine.

 

Leathanach Deiridh talks about the importance of the relationship between a mother and her children and even any number of problems or years gone by cannot alter the essence of the emotional bond between them. The short film reiterates the fact that seeking help and sharing life experiences and issues with one’s loved ones is necessary to feel better within. Hope, positivity, and happiness are crucial for giving a fresh outlook to life each time negativity surrounds people. The creative piece appeals to its audience to exercise mutual understanding between the parents as well as children so that no stranger can affect the bond in any possible way.