Based on Jennifer Johnston’s novel The Old Jest, The Dawning is a fine, carefully assembled period drama set in Ireland during the summer of 1920. Nancy (Rebecca Pidgeon), an 18-year-old orphan, is being raised by her aunt (Jean Simmons) in the decaying splendour of a large seaside house. Her solitary existence is disrupted by a gunman (Anthony Hopkins) who is hiding in her secret hut on the beach. Their friendship grows and she agrees to carry a message to Dublin for him. It is only when she witnesses the shooing of a 12 British officers in Dublin that she realises the implications of her involvement with the IRA gunman.

U.K., 1988.
Director: Robert Knights.
Colour.
97 min.