The Secret Life Of Words, 2005 (Grade B+)

Director: Isabel Coixet

Any Awards?  None that we know of

Cast: Sarah Polley; Tim Robbins; Javier Camara; Julie Christie; Eddie Marsan; Steven Mackintosh; Leonard Watling; Daniel Mays; Dean Lennox Kelly; Danny Cunningham

PLOT: After physically surviving the war in Yugoslavia, the psychologically damaged  nurse Hanna (Sarah Polley) is forced to take time off her numbing factory job and is sent on vacation. She heads to Ireland and is lost and anxious until she hears about an oil-rig accident off the coast and she agrees to go to th rig and tend heroic burn victim Josef (Tim Robbins). She encounters various personalities on the derrick: Josef, a Russian soldier (Sverre Anker Ousdal), a lively Spanish chef (Javier Cámara), a caring and committed oceanographer and other oddballs who have found reasons to separate themselves from society.  Slowly people on the rig reveal their stories...Hannah's being the last, and most difficult.  And we, the audience are left to wonder about all of the 'forgotten' victims of war.

sez says: Bravo -- this is a great story, well told, brilliantly acted.  It is slow paced but even so it has a tension that builds, and a mystery to be solved.  Not 'who done it'  but 'what happened' and in the end, what is humanities responsibility in a case such as this--which is only one case in a million.   

MJC Says:  the depth and engagement that good actors can achieve even in roles with limited action is demonstrated brilliantly in this film of the range of humanity