THE ROOF BLOWS OFF THE CHURCH, ORPHANS, PETER MULLAN, 1997
A surprise sleeper hit at UK cinemas, writer/director Peter Mullan's absurdist depiction of a Glasgow family suffering in the aftermath of their mother's death was a dark delight, typified by blackly comic images such as Gary Lewis attempting to carry a coffin on his own, or Douglas Henshall floating down the Clyde on a pallet, washing up as waste on the tide among the debris of the now-defunct shipyards. But Mullan's most dramatic image comes when the roof of a Glasgow church is blown off during a storm.
It's a crude visual technically, a coup of imagination rather than special effects. But while Mullan's The Magdalene Sisters proved to be a more precise attack on ritualistic behaviour and abuse, the gratuitous destruction of the church in Orphans exposes not only the characters to inclement elements which lash down with a Lear-like intensity, but symbolises the loss of protection which was previously provided to the siblings by the past, their mother, and their religion.
It's a mischievous conceit, but one that pierces to the heart of Mullan's compassionate view of urban life for modern Scots, struggling against adversity like orphans in the storm.
EDDIE HARRISON
Douglas Henshall - Orphans Press Release Part 1
Douglas Henshall - Orphans Press Release Part 2
No Light Touch - by Douglas Henshall- from Hot Tickets magazine May 5th 1999
NME Article - May 8th 1999