Now Showing: The Dam

 

The Dam

Genre: Drama / Music

Director: Andrew Haigh

Writers: Jimmy Ellis & Georgia Watts

Based on the book by David Almond 

Cast: Jonathan Bailey, Lexi Lancaster, Dick Van Dyke, Jerome Flynn, Joss Stone

Plot: North Northumberland, 1980

Mike Tickell (Jonathan Bailey) awakes his daughter, Kathryn (Lexi Lancaster) from her sleep. “Is today the day daddy?” Mike nods his head, yes. He instructs Kathryn to grab her fiddle, they’ve got a journey to go on.

They embark on their journey, as the day was dawning, Mike in a baker boy hat and a run-down trench coat. Kathryn in the best dress she could find, making sure to carry her fiddle. The two of them walk with purpose, reaching a valley lined with a fence, KEEP OUT, a sign they see. “Don’t worry my dear, there is no danger near.”

As the two of them enter the fenced off area, they continue their walk, when suddenly Mike tells Kathryn to stop. He gets low to the ground, as does she. “Look”, he says. She looks ahead spotting a deer in the distance. Mentioning how magical this experience is. She looks around some more, noticing some dead flowers at her feet. As they walk some more, they spot so much more wildlife ahead, whether it sheep or chickens or even a fox. She comes upon a yellow flower and picks it where it sits. She places the flower in her hand, staring. She asks her father what will happen come dawn the next day. He tells her, “All of this will be gone, those flowers, this sheep, all washed away, never seen again.” He mentions they will drown, or run, and never able to live here again. She gets a sad look upon her face, “why?” she asks. Mike tells her, while placing an arm around her shoulder that it’s the way the world works now, they need to expand, and for that they displace all this land has known. They continue their walk, Kathryn now understanding a bit more.

Now atop the dam they look to the distance, down the valley, they see houses, but they stop and look around. Mike asks Kathryn whether she knows where they are. A confused look on her face, he mentions the name Archie Dagg. She now recalls, Archie Dagg, the piper. She points to a spot nearby, he played there. A smile forms upon her face, and Gracie Gray, Mike mentioning her gorgeous voice. Although Kathryn never experienced those in person, she remembers the stories her father had told her. He asks if she now remembers the stories.

A bustling centre of fun, a young Mike looks around the town, and toward the piper Archie Dagg (Jerome Flynn) playing. Gracie Gray (Joss Stone) singing a tune so well known. Mike joins in on the singing, his voice not as elegant as Gracie’s but fabulous all the same.

(Old Mike and Kathryn see these visuals happening from the distance a smile on their face. Kathryn grabs out her own fiddle and joins the playing.)

As the two continue their walk, Kathryn continues to play her fiddle, smiling as she goes. Mike sings the song, as if he were a boy. They then walk down the valley and toward a building. “Now I know you remember this building.”

The two of them walk in the building. A rocking chair in the corner. Kathryn goes and sits in front of it, a tear comes from her eye. Mike places his arm around her shoulder. She says that she still hears Bill Scott songs as if he were still here. Mike laughs, “that old man sure could sing.” He then asks if she still remembers how to play his favourite song. She begins to play on the fiddle.

Bill Scott (Dick Van Dyke) sits on the rocking chair with his violin, the home obviously his with photos of him and his wife. A 5-year-old Kathryn sits in front. He begins to play his violin and sing, with a jive that not many people can.

Bill (Past) and Mike sing the songs in unison as if they were together in time. Kathryn continues to play the song, while her father and Bill sings, the two of them look around as if seeing other people in the room listening and dancing to their music.

Once the music stops Mike hugs his daughter. She has the idea of letting all of the houses hear some music for the last time. Let the people that still reside in those houses dance.

The two of them go to various houses and play different songs on Kathryn’s fiddle and Mike’s voice. They go to Willy Taylor’s where another violin joins their playing. Billy Ballantine and his piccolo. Marjorie Dennis and her piano. Kathryn and Mike then stand in the middle of the old town centre, surrounded by Marjorie and her piano, Billy and his piccolo, Willy and his violin. They are also joined by Bill, singing, Archie Dagg and Gracie Gray’s voice. They all join in unison and play the town out one more time.

When they finish and the music stops it is just Kathryn and Mike left surrounded by empty houses and dead land. They look at each other, and smile. “Let’s go home.”

As the day was darkening the two of them walk out of the valley. They stop once more and look down at the valley. Seeing it flash from what it once was to what it is now.

The next morning Mike wakes Kathryn the same way. He tells her once more to bring her fiddle. This time they march forth. Mike drags a little boat with him.

Flowers are engulfed with water as the dam is sealed. Water rises, all of the flowers are missing, drowned, gone. Mike places the boat in some of the water and helps Kathryn in. As they move along in the boat, Mike paddling it, Kathryn plays her fiddle. They go all the way toward Old Bill’s house, all that is left the roof sticking out from the water. Mike sings as she continues to play, a look of fondness comes across their face. Kathryn stops playing her music, but the sound of her fiddle doesn’t stop, she reaches down into the water, a smile forming, then a laugh. Mike questions her on this, she says that Bill’s music stays in the water. They’ll hear it when they walk along the shore, when they sail on its surface, when they fish, when they paddle in the shallows, and as they lie beneath the stars, the music rises. Mike mentions that all they have to do is remember.

Mike and Kathryn both sing and play the fiddle as they dance with their family, Kathryn’s mother, and 2 aunts and cousins. They all dance and sing. Kathryn looks to her father and nods as we hear Bill’s song one last time.