The Light Between Oceans : A review

I watched a movie in Sony Le Plex channel recently quite late at night in a Mahabaleswar hotel room. I was sleepy but as I started watching the story caught my attention and kept me awake yearning to see what happens in the end.The movie grabs your attention.

The movie begins with a World War veteran Tom Sherbourne ( Michael Fassbender) taking up a Lighthouse guard job in order to find some solitude; however he falls in love with a local girl, Isabel ( Alicia Vikander)and marries her. But two miscarriage by the wife shatter their hope of having another. The woman's depression was so palpable and the man's effort to mollify her was encouraging. The empty cot, The ruffling ocean, whistling winds, two crosses reminding the miscarriages, woman's sigh... everything put the tone of the movie into deep melancholy. However arrival of a boat with a dead man and an infant girl changed everything. Isabel sprang into life taking care of the baby. The empty cot which they prepared with great hope earlier got filled. The transformation of Isabel from a melancholic lost soul to an exuberant mother was so vividly noticeable. The call of duty dictated Tom that he informs the authorities about this sudden arrival of an infant but faded into oblivion as a frantic Isabel persuaded her husband not to steal her new found bundle of joy. The husband obliges but here begins the moral dilemma which is going to cause enormous turbulence later on. 

I don't want the full story to be disclosed but the ensuing human drama that begins after Tom finds out and contacts the infant's mother out of sheer moral compulsion. Tom lands up in jail but not a single moment he accuses Isabel. She never betrays her trust either. In the end the baby girl reunites with her biological mother and family and we see Isabel dying aged and infirm tormented with life long guilt. This movie is going to rivet you to the screen and while engrossed you will find it is a simple story of human need of love, parenthood or pangs due to lack of it. The stoic acting of Micheal Fassbender blows your mind and the melodramatic Alicia Vikander tug your heart strings.

Please watch till the end. After a long time I was engrossed by simple tale of human emotions. I expected the movie to be a dark one, instead it turned out to be a heart tugging riveting watch. And I was pleasantly surprised to discover it is based on a novel written by M.L. Stedman whom I have never heard of. Now I will be finding and reading her books.