The Vanishing

From the premise I almost thought this was similar to "The Lighthouse" with Pattinson and Dafoe. But this is nothing like that. While this is quite somber (for a movie with Butler in it), it is not nearly as intense or good as that. Still the movie is at least decent, with nice play between the 3 main characters. With some added flavor of others thrown in.

Being on an island can do things to your mind. When an outside "force" comes it adds a new ingredient to the mix. This is not always a good thing. And nothing comes for free either ... even if you don't know or haven't read up on the story, once you open something, you know you'll have to live with the consequences. Whatever those may be

When faced with extraordinary circumstances, people usually act as you would expect them to, based on who they were before the circumstance. Occasionally there are surprises. But usually a brave person reacts bravely, etc.

But most of us never get a chance to find out how we would react, because nothing precarious happens in our lives. For these three lighthouse keepers, something did. Something as simple as encountering another human. One thing leads to another. Such is life.

Sure, we could have used more back stories for all three men, and more time-period context. But this picture was simple and primal. Three men are isolated, a tough situation arises, survival instincts kick in, people make choices, and one way or another, resolution ensues.

The irony here, and I've yet to read anyone mentioning it, is that the good guys took possession of the bad guys' stuff and refused to give it back. Not vice versa.

Do you have brutal violence inside you? Do I? Who knows? Let's hope we never find out.

The photography and setting, the interior shots, the facial expressions, were all top notch. Great atmosphere, memorable tension.

The two older guys had been to the school of hard knocks presumably. But the young guy got an overwhelming jolt out of nowhere. His world turned upside down in more dramatic and overwhelming fashion than for the others. Yet in some ways, he handled it the best.

What a breath of fresh air. I don't mean the literal air on these desolate island but a movie without an intrusive soundtrack or where the producers have made sure every scene is fully explained to a dumb audience.

A stark production from a director moving up from TV for the first time and showing talent in the way that Spielberg did with Duel.

Strong acting from a small bunch of blokes in a claustrophobic environment.

The movie is a tragedy, an imaginary tale of what could have happened to the real "keepers" who indeed vanished back in mid december of 1900, and never heard of again.

The truth is that nobody knows for sure what was the fate of the real three men at the Flannan Isle, and anybody's guess is as good.

Theories abound about what really happened, from alien abduction to a giant wave, and anything in between.

Was it a terrible natural accident, such as the three men falling down a cliff or down inside a cave? Or something more sinister as the men kill each other?

Your guess is as good as mine.

In the real diary entry logged by the real keepers, they write about a terrible weather "as the one they have never seen in 20 years at sea."

That particular entry in the book is extraordinary, having in consideration that weather reports at the time indicated that weather was fine and calmed and the first rain can in on december 17, 1900. That is baffling to say the least.

Will we ever know what happened to those 3 scotish men, thomas, donald and james? sadly, most probably not, which is so sad, especially because they had wives and children.

About the movie itself, i'd say its pretty good. i give it a 6.

acting is excellent from the three main actors, as well as from the supporting characters. all did a good work, and the director set the grim tone right from the beginning.

the drama unfold with camera close to the faces of the actors to emphasis the tragedy going on, no images from the beauty of the ocean and a blue scotish sky don't expect to see that.

all is sad from the very beginning and the only laughs occurred when donald and james found gold in the chest. other than that, all is grey.

i'd recommend the movie to anyone who likes thrillers and tragedies on film. no special effects just plain good old fashioned acting (good actually) and an ending kind of predictable, still enjoyable (again if you like tragedies).

The movie is not about the disappearance of the three lighthous keepers from 1900. That was just a pretext. It is about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Greed, guilt, suspicion... We always think that we are able to manage extraordinary circumstances, but do we?