Film: The Secret Of Kells
Release date: 1st November 2010
Certificate: PG
Running time: 75 mins
Director: Tomm Moore, Nora Twomey
Starring: Venise du Bois du Roy, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Hourican, Mick Lally, Michael McGrath
Genre: Animation
Studio: Optimum
Format: DVD & Blu-ray
Country: France/Belgium/Republic Of Ireland
This is an English-Language release.
Up, Coraline, Fantastic Mr. Fox, The Princess And The Frog and The Secret Of Kells. One of the nominees for 2010’s Best Animated Feature Oscar stood out from the rest as being a little anonymous. Without the clout of Disney, Pixar, Wes Anderson or Henry Selick to push it into the limelight, Kells didn’t really stand much of a chance. Which is a shame, because it’s brilliant.
In 19th century Ireland, Brendan, a young boy and apprentice Illuminator (calligrapher) is torn between his love of books and his uncle’s wish for him to follow in his footsteps as Abbot of Kells. When the legendary Brother Aidan arrives with the coveted Book of Iona after Vikings take his monastery, Brendan must decide whether dream or duty will occupy his future.
The Vikings, meanwhile, are tearing through Ireland, and Abbot Cellach is now obsessed with finishing construction of a huge wall around the Abbey, despite Aidan’s warning him it will not be enough to prevent an attack.
As Aidan takes Brendan under his wing and teaches him the art of Illumination, Brendan is introduced to a world outside the Abbey walls, hitherto forbidden to him by his uncle. He meets Aisling, the last Faerie in the forest, and becomes aware that a world of fantasy and danger exists beyond his dreams…
A Belgian/Irish/French co-production; The Secret Of Kells is as spiritual, arty and downright weird as that suggests. The whole thing has a dreamlike quality that exacerbates its mythological influences. Check out the scene in which Brendan fights a dragon underwater. Is it magic? Is it a dream? Who knows? The two concepts aren’t mutually exclusive if one’s mind is open to either possibility. In fact, that seems to essentially be the theme running through the film.
Abbot Cellach, himself a former Illuminator, has lost the ability to dream. His responsibility to his people has sapped his imagination and all he thinks about is protecting the Abbey. Because of this, he has condemned Brendan to a life of servitude and boredom. Brother Aidan’s arrival opens up a whole new world for Brendan, and he relishes his chance to learn how to express himself in a way he never thought possible.
The relationships here are played well, and no-one is portrayed in an unsympathetic way, even though it would have been easy to draw the Abbot as a closed-minded villain (although, in a literal sense, he is designed to look exactly like a villain, a mix between Aladdin’s Jafar and Star Wars’ Count Dooku). On the other hand, the villainous Vikings are not given much screen time, and are portrayed simply as an oncoming malevolent force. This doesn’t give much in the way of motivation and character, but is ultimately successful come the ferocious attack.
It is when on the outside of the wall, in the outlying forest, that the film really comes alive. The imagination of Brendan (and indeed, the filmmakers) is unleashed with stunning realisation. The aforementioned fight with a dragon is a highlight, but any moment where Aisling is around is bound to stir up some kind of visual mischief. The sequence where she sings a cat into a ghost to get Brendan out of his bedroom is probably the most tripped out moment since Dumbo got drunk (read that sentence again after watching the film and you’ll understand, possibly).
Where the film falls down is in the last ten or fifteen minutes. Brendan’s escape and eventual return is somewhat rushed and anticlimactic. It could be argued that art is more about the creation than the finished product, so Brendan’s journey is more important than his destination. And after an amount of ponderous chin stroking, the ending doesn’t really tarnish the film in any noticeable way. Moreover, it’s hard to suggest an alternative way to end, as all story-arcs seem to be tied up quite nicely (although the Vikings didn’t seem to be very thorough in their work). So, it’s a futile complaint, really.
An astonishing piece of work that evokes memories of childhood imagination just as well as more celebrated works such as Coraline. It will likely never be as well known though. So spread the word, this is one secret that shouldn’t be kept. SEAN
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