With his previous feature films, Ciaran Creagh has shown himself to be an author with a sensitive social nerve. He continues in this direction also in the third film which is based on what happened to 15-year-old Ann Lovett in 1984. In 2018, an abortion referendum was held in Ireland and Ann’s story again rose to the foreground.

When she wakes up that morning, Ann feels that it is going to happen that day. She puts on her school uniform, but instead of going to school she is terrified of what is to come and quietly wanders the streets, hoping for human kindness and help, hoping for a miracle, while afraid to approach anyone. As a Catholic school student, she can in the end only count on the blessing of Virgin Mary and thus she gives birth to a baby boy beneath the statue of Our Lady in a grotto near the house of the congregation’s priest.

This is not just a film about how a child has a child. Ann’s internal struggles are accompanied by a general portrait of the community with its prejudices, taboos and traditions. In cooperation, director Creagh and camera operator David Grennan have found the perfect format for telling this story. And although forty years will soon have passed from the event on which the film is based, the matter remains topical due to the society’s attitudes. The authors have created a mercilessly honest film that touches us all.

Mihkel Möölman