Middletown Review

Middletown
When he returns home to his Irish village, the recently ordained Gabriel finds that his new found religious zeal is not as compatible with family cohesion as he might have wished.

by Helen O'Hara |
Published on
Release Date:

02 Mar 2007

Running Time:

89 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Middletown

Matthew Macfadyen leaves Mr. Darcy far behind to play a repressed zealot in rural Ireland in the 1960s. Centring on the return home of the newly ordained Gabriel (Macfadyen), this drama pits fanaticism against family when the new minister tries to impose his own rigid morality on his father (McSorley), brother (Mays) and sister-in-law (Birthistle).

It’s interesting to see a film about religion in Ireland that doesn’t also feature terrorism or sectarianism, and Macfadyen injects depth as well as brimstone into his character. But while it’s beautifully shot in blues and greys, it feels a little too theatrical to ever quite fill the big screen.

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