The Light Between Oceans
“The Light Between Oceans,” is a melodrama adapted from a 2012 novel by M.L. Stedman, screen written and directed by Derek Cianfrance. In 1918, Tom Sherbourne (Michael Fassbender) has just returned from “The Western Front” of WWI and is now a stoic and scarred war veteran who has decided to take a job as a light keeper on a the remote Janus Island (off Western Austrailia) where there are no other humans 100 miles in any direction. Tom is fine with a life of solitude until he meets the head schoolmaster’s beautiful daughter Isabel Graysmark (Alicia Vikander). Isabel is vivacious and full of spirit and Tom surprisingly finds himself thinking of her often and longing to have her in his life. The two marry and Isabel moves out to Janus Island to be with Tom.
Life on the island is wonderful as Tom and Isabel’s love continues to grow and flourish. The only thing lacking in their lives is a child. After two painful miscarriages within two years, Isabel find herself full of sadness and grief, until one fateful afternoon, a dinghy washes up on shore with a deceased man and a crying infant baby girl. Tom buries the man while Isabel tends to the baby who is hungry but healthy. Isabel believes the baby has arrived as a gift from God and they should keep her and raise her as their own. Filled with doubt and moral responsibility, Tom is torn and tries to convince Isabel to let him report the baby to the mainland. Eventually, Tom gives in and they decide to keep the baby, Lucy, as their own daughter.
Life is good and the family is thriving until they travel back to the mainland for a light house celebration and Tom discovers a woman in a cemetery crying over a grave of a husband and infant daughter “lost at sea” at the same time they found baby Lucy. Tom realizes that this woman, Hannah (Rachel Weisz), is Lucy’s biological mother. He finds himself overcome with guilt and morally struggling with what is the right thing to do. Eventually, he cannot remain silent and drops enough clues to open an investigation into the case.
Although a little long and slow at times, I did get a bit tearful a time or two. This is the story of right and wrong, a mother’s love – both adopted and biological and, in the end, forgiveness. 6/10
