Product Details

• Actors: Jeni Courtney, Eileen Colgan, Mick Lally, Pat Slowey, Dave Duffy
• Directors: John Sayles
• Writers: John Sayles, Rosalie K. Fry
• Producers: Glenn R. Jones, John Sloss, Maggie Renzi, Peter Newman, R. Paul Miller
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, NTSC
• Subtitles: Spanish
• Rated: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Sony Pictures
• VHS Release Date: August 13, 1996
• Run Time: 103 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (172 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6303820913
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #387,911 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

As one of the most respected American independent filmmakers, John Sayles has created a body of work as distinguished in its diversity as for its consistent quality and inspiring originality. He's never been one to march to the commercial beat, but chooses instead to follow his creative impulse wherever it leads him. The Secret of Roan Inish led Sayles to the beautiful and moody West Coast of Ireland; it is a tale of a girl who discovers that her family has been touched by myth and magic throughout the years. Following the death of her mother, young Fiona (Jeni Courtney) is sent to live with her grandparents on the Irish coast across from Roan Inish, the island where her family once lived. She's told stories about the selkies--seals that can turn into humans--who have been connected with Fiona's family over the ages. At first she's not sure if the selkies are real or mythological, but she later realizes that they hold the key to reclaiming her family heritage.

What's remarkable about this film (which Sayles adapted from Rosalie Fry's novel Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry) is that it's not told as a cute fantasy for children, but as a straightforward, unsentimental story of a young girl's family history. That gives the film--which was beautifully photographed by master cinematographer Haskell Wexler--an understated charm that is completely absorbing in its atmosphere and subtle tone. There's magic as well, to be sure--you could almost swear that the seals and seagulls in the film took direction from Sayles as well as any human actor! --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

John Sayles's fable about a mythological Celtic creature, the Selkie (half seal, half human), and its effect on an Irish family unfolds as a tall tale, and it offers the pleasures of a magical story told in mysterious tones. The movie begins as a rousing sea adventure, then turns into a home-and-hearth mood piece; what saves it from being cloying is an almost total lack of drama. The rhythms are placid and the camerawork (by Haskell Wexler) is simple and unfussy. The film's a charm. -Bruce Diones
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

191 of 208 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars splendid old-fashioned movie experience, September 30, 2002

By 

Orrin C. Judd "brothersjudddotcom" (Hanover, NH USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Secret of Roan Inish (DVD)

Given his notorious reputation for cranking out the most politically-correct of films, it's a really pleasant surprise to watch this profoundly conservative effort by John Sayles. Based on a 1959 novel by Rosalie Fry, Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry, Sayles' Roan Inish tells the story of a young girl, Fiona, who when her mother dies is sent to live with her grandparents on the Irish coast in the years immediately after WWII. The family had long lived on the island of Roan Inish, in the company of seals, but they were relocated to Donegal during the war and now may have to move again, further inland. There's an ineffable sadness about the old couple, the grandfather especially misses the island and mourns the lost way of life they enjoyed; the grandmother misses Fiona's brother, Jamie, who was swept out to sea in a wooden cradle when they were moving off of Roan Inish. Fiona though is convinced that her baby brother still lives and, indeed, her cousin Eamon tells her that he's been sighted sailing around in his cradle boat.

Fiona's grandfather and cousins are only too happy to tell her tales about the family and Roan Inish, maintaining their strong ties to the island at least in memory and recitation. Finally, one cousin, Tadhg--a "dark one" (dark of hair and eye like her brother was)--tells the story of how an ancestor captured a selkie, a seal-woman. The selkies are said to swim ashore in seal form and then strip off their skins to bask in the sun as beautiful women, but if you can grab their skin before they slip away they are bound to you. The family then is descended from this selkie, though one of her children eventually told her where to find the skin and she immediately swam off.

Fiona takes to visiting the island and spots Jamie herself, running naked and picking flowers, but he runs away and sails off in his cradle. She then convinces Eamon that the seals are keeping Jamie to make the family move back to the island, so the two set about secretly restoring the dilapidated huts and gardens, all the while trying to figure out how to coax the grandparents back to Roan Inish.

The film is beautifully shot, by Haskell Wexler, with a lilting Celtic soundtrack, and the cast, apparently professional but largely unknown here in the States, plays it straight down the line, as drama not fantasy. Mr. Sayles never treats the audience as if we need convincing, nor stoops to treat the material ironically. It is simply assumed that we will abandon reason and suspend disbelief, and we're quite happy to do so. The whole is infused with a sentimental longing for tradition, a sense that life has a proper order and we our proper places in that order, and a disdain for change that is positively reactionary and very refreshing. The viewer has no doubt that it is necessary for the Coneelly family, the descendants of the selkie, to live on Roan Inish and that the world is a better place with this balance restored. It's all as anti-modern as can be and makes for a splendid old-fashioned movie experience, for the whole family or just for the adults.

GRADE: A+

74 of 83 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Emerald Isles, October 25, 2001

By 

Rebecca Johnson "The Rebecca Review" (Washington State) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secret of Roan Inish [VHS] (VHS Tape)

A beautiful story, that captures the selkie legend with a touch of innocence.

John Sayles adapted Rosalie Fry's 1959 novel: Secret of the Ron Mor Skerry (That now sells for three to five hundred dollars!) Haskell Wexler captured the rolling emerald pastureland, clusters of white thatched cottages and the mist rolling in from the sea on film so delightfully, you will find yourself longing to visit Ireland.

Green is the color of life, hope and joy. In this delightful story, Fiona is full of life, hopes to find her brother and experiences the joy of helping her family in their time of need.

Fiona (Jeni Courtney) loses her mother and younger brother and is sent to live with her grandparents on the Irish Coast. From the cottage she sees Roan Inish, an island where her family once lived. Filled with curiosity, she seeks every opportunity to explore the tiny island. Tales of seals that can change out of their skin and take on a perfect human form makes her even more curious. She feels a magical connection with one of the seals she sees while on a fishing boat.

The selkie in this story is a beautiful woman who marries a mortal, yet pines for the sea. She is trapped on land without her seal skin, which her husband has hidden. Ledgend has it that one of her children told her where the skin was hidden and she immediately put it on and returned to the sea, leaving her family, home and husband behind forever.

Fiona takes all the stories and finds she is experiencing some of the magic of the legend in her own trips to the Island of Roan Inish. Like all children, she still believes in magic and even though her grandparents don't believe she has seen her brother, Fiona has
faith that she has not seen a ghost.

A lovely story to teach children kindness to animals and that no matter what happens in life, someone is always looking out for them.

This is a rare treat!

~The Rebecca Review

53 of 59 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fairy Tale for All Ages, August 1, 2000

By 

Laurie Gold "bookie" (Dallas, TX USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Secret of Roan Inish [VHS] (VHS Tape)

John Sayles hit one out of the park with his The Secret of Roan Inish. This one is clearly for the child in all of us, whether we're 8, 18, or 80. This magical story reunites a family on a small Irish island with little more than a young girl's dream and some hard work by she and her cousin.

The lure of Ireland is hardly new, but the beauty of this sometimes difficult land shines through the foggy mist that permeates the film. It is the financial hardships the Irish have often faced that create the backdrop for this movie. Some may say Sayles has romanticized penury, when in reality he has simply shown what is most important to the human spirit - that hard work can sometimes make dreams come true, and that faith and magic are as important as tangible things. The delightful acting and strong characterizations bring the moody and mystical Irish coast to life.

Whether you are a fan of the selkie myth, Ireland, or are looking for a film that you, your children, and your parents can watch together, I heartily recommend this one.

TTFN, Laurie Likes Books

Publisher, All About Romance