The Vanishing

The movie is not about the disappearance of the three lighthous keepers from 1900. That was just a pretext. It is about ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances. Greed, guilt, suspicion... We always think that we are able to manage extraordinary circumstances, but do we?

Admittedly I am rating this higher than I think it should be rated. I am doing this to do my part in bringing the overall rating up. Many people decide whether or not to watch a movie, based on these ratings and I think more people should watch this movie. Did it have a slow pace? Yes. I thought the acting and story were fantastic. I see people complaining about the claim that this was based on real events. It was. The true story is that nobody knows what happened to the three men. This was simply a filmmakers take as to what might have happened. I have quite a bit of knowledge about what is known to have happened and the filmmakers did a wonderful job of including that in the movie. They simply filled in the blanks with what I thought was an intriguing story, and deep, engaging characters. Please don't let the overall rating dissuade you from watching. The people who didn't like this movie, are probably people who can't appreciate a movie without a high level of "excitement". I would give the flick an 8.5.

Thought this movie was brilliant. Very well acted. It shows how life can change in the blink of an eye, and how one decision can flip your whole world upside-down and change everything, especially yourself.

The movie is a tragedy, an imaginary tale of what could have happened to the real "keepers" who indeed vanished back in mid december of 1900, and never heard of again.

The truth is that nobody knows for sure what was the fate of the real three men at the Flannan Isle, and anybody's guess is as good.

Theories abound about what really happened, from alien abduction to a giant wave, and anything in between.

Was it a terrible natural accident, such as the three men falling down a cliff or down inside a cave? Or something more sinister as the men kill each other?

Your guess is as good as mine.

In the real diary entry logged by the real keepers, they write about a terrible weather "as the one they have never seen in 20 years at sea."

That particular entry in the book is extraordinary, having in consideration that weather reports at the time indicated that weather was fine and calmed and the first rain can in on december 17, 1900. That is baffling to say the least.

Will we ever know what happened to those 3 scotish men, thomas, donald and james? sadly, most probably not, which is so sad, especially because they had wives and children.

About the movie itself, i'd say its pretty good. i give it a 6.

acting is excellent from the three main actors, as well as from the supporting characters. all did a good work, and the director set the grim tone right from the beginning.

the drama unfold with camera close to the faces of the actors to emphasis the tragedy going on, no images from the beauty of the ocean and a blue scotish sky don't expect to see that.

all is sad from the very beginning and the only laughs occurred when donald and james found gold in the chest. other than that, all is grey.

i'd recommend the movie to anyone who likes thrillers and tragedies on film. no special effects just plain good old fashioned acting (good actually) and an ending kind of predictable, still enjoyable (again if you like tragedies).

The Vanishing is surprisingly good, it tells a sad twisted story with a great deal of mastery, the plot is straightforward but it's actualized with breathtaking performances by everyone in the film, it has this deep eerie and dark feeling to it that adds this gripping factor as we watch dramatic events unfold in front of us, granted, that it has some structural problems with its narrative but the end product is so captivating you just can't take your eyes off it. The slow burn storytelling adds a great deal of suspense as we ourselves examine and analyze what could happen, what I also loved is that through the film itself is dealing with a moral problem as its characters struggle to cope with their new situations, it is really beautiful to watch. The Vanishing does its story justice as we're offered a chilling narrative that doesn't disappoint at all, an all around great effort.