Susan Granger’s review of “The Vanishing” (Saban Films)
For years, Scotsmen have pondered the Flannan Isle Mystery. It revolves around three lighthouse keepers who disappeared from the rocky Outer Hebrides back in 1900, inspiring the famous poem “Flannan Isle” by Wilfred Wilson Gibson.
Set in 1938, this psychological thriller begins as they’re ferried to the tiny, remote island on Scotland’s rugged west coast.
Taciturn widower Thomas Marshall (Peter Mullan) has been doing this job for many years, along with James Ducat (Gerard Butler), who bids farewell to his wife and children on the mainland. The third is Donald McArthur (Connor Swindells), an inexperienced trainee who gets violently seasick.
Arriving for their six-week shift, they first have to make necessary repairs to the light. “Many a keeper’s lost their mind to quicksilver,” James warns newcomer Donald, scooping up the spilled mercury used to lubricate the lighthouse machinery with a gloved hand.
Soon after, as they clean up the corpses of mysteriously dead seagulls after a ferocious storm, Donald discovers what appears to be the body of a man whose rowboat is beached in a deep crevasse. As Donald is lowered on a rope, the man suddenly comes to life and attacks him, ostensibly protecting a wooden chest. In self-defense, Donald kills him.
Later, when they haul up and open the wooden chest, they discover it contains carefully wrapped solid gold bars. Marveling at their newfound riches, they debate what to do next.
Before long, however, they have unexpected visitors. Two men (Soren Malling, Olafur Darri Olafsson) show up looking for their “missing crewmate,” and Thomas’ hastily contrived story fails to convince them.
Originally titled “The Keepers,” it’s written by Celyn Jones and Joe Bone and helmed by Danish director Kristoffer Nyholm, who works with cinematographer Jorgen Johansson to evoke an ominous atmosphere of windswept desolation. Unfortunately, the actors’ heavy Scottish brogue is often difficult to decipher.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Vanishing” is a speculative 6, coming to an enigmatic conclusion.
