Sebastian Barry's brilliant novel SECRET SCRIPTURE has been transformed into an eloquent touching film Johnny Ferguson and Director Jim Sheridan. With moody cinematography by Mikhail Krichman and a musical score by Brian Byrne (with a lot of help from Beethoven) and a perfect cast of actors, this radiantly beautiful film should satisfy a large audience – those who love period pieces, Ireland, sweet romance, ad twists of plot.

Roseanne McNulty (Vanessa Redgrave) must vacate the soon-to-be demolished mental institution in Roscommon, Ireland that she's called home for over 50 years. The hospital's psychiatrist, Dr. William Grene (Eric Bana) is called in to assess her condition. He finds himself intrigued by Roseanne's seemingly inscrutable rituals and tics, and her fierce attachment to her Bible, which she has over the decades transformed into a palimpsest of scripture, drawings, and cryptic diary entries. As Grene delves deeper into Roseanne's past, we see her as the young woman Rose (Rooney Mara),whose charisma proves seductive. We learn that she moved to Sligo to work in her aunt's café, fell in love with a dashing fighter pilot Michael McNulty (Jack Reynor),and that a local priest Father Gaunt (Theo James) fell tragically in love with her. The elderly Lady Rose is institutionalized because it was rumored that she murdered her only child at childbirth. Dr Grene and a nurse (Susan Lynch) are supportive of Lady Rose as the story unfolds in the most sensitive manner.

There is much to be praised in this film – the manner in which the conflict between the Irish and the British altered personal lives and relationships, the horrors of the early 20th century insane asylums, the struggle Catholics priests at times endure with their celibacy vows, and the beauty of Ireland – but the cast is so fine that they shine with this material. This is a very fine film.

Although "The Secret Scripture" was based on the Sebastian Barry novel, the film has the feel of real historical drama set in Ireland in the mid-twentieth century. The expansive story covers the period of 1942-92, and the focus is on the horrific experience of a woman trapped in the religious strife and the sick morality of the age.

The film proceeds with flashbacks as Rose McNulty has spent a half century in the barbaric Roscommon Regional Mental Hospital where she was incarcerated primarily through a letter of condemnation written by a priest, who accused her of "nymphomania" in the mid-1940s. By the 1990s, even the clinicians are unsure about how to spell the archaic word nymphomania.

But in the 1940s, in the small town of Ballytivnan in County Slligo, young Rose was instructed not to even look a man in the eyes, due to the Victorian morals of the age. The priest who condemned her to hell in the asylum lusted after her, and when she refused his advances, he retaliated with a vengeance.

Rose was formally married, but the cruel staff of the asylum did not bother to check the records. While her husband Michael was eventually killed in militant Irish religious schism, Rose delivered his child while leading a life of agony in the asylum. The film develops a melodramatic plot about what happened to the child after Rose made a daring escape and gave birth to a baby boy on the beach.

One of the great strengths of the film is the sublime acting of Rooney Mara and Vanessa Redgrave as the young and elderly Rose McNulty. For fifty years, Rose has kept a kind of diary through scribbling notes and drawing pictures in her Bible. Her musings form the "secret" scripture of the film's title.

The cinematography was breathtaking with the Irish landscape and the tides that momentarily portend a possible escape for Rose. But even that brief ray of hope is denied her. It is difficult to imaging more cruelty to a human being than the destiny of Rose McNultry. The film raised awareness about just how cruel human beings can be to one another, with the flagrant hypocrisy of morality, religion, and war serving as a smokescreen for the deeper and more troubling aspects of human nature.

This is a sweeping romantic drama that goes back and forth in time between the present with an old woman in an asylum and her younger self in "neutral" Ireland during WW2. Even though there is a clearly fictional quality to the story, the themes of the Irish conflict feel very real.

Rooney Mara is eminently watchable. You can really believe her beauty is enough to drive the men in the small town to distraction. She really acts well here - wish she had more good roles.

Theo James plays the villain, a lecherous priest. His face is actually quite suited to the cruel character - he should play villains more in the future. Eric Bana should be on screen more. Vanessa Redgrave wouldn't act in a mediocre movie.

One fault is a lot of non Irish actors speaking with accents - need subtitles sometimes.

This movie is saved by a good ending. A nice old fashioned ending that is feel good and doesn't leave you hanging.