The film’s final shot is not of a happy family. It is of the father, finally crying on the beach, holding his daughter, while the sea—wild and dangerous—rolls in. The sea is not tamed. The grief is not solved. It is simply . Conclusion: A Necessary Antidote Song of the Sea is not a film about Irish folklore. It is a film about how modern, rational, urban life has taught us to bottle our emotions (literally, in Macha’s jars and the grandmother’s jam). It insists that the messy, watery, unpredictable world of feeling is the only real world.
A visual tone poem and a psychological masterpiece. It teaches children that sadness is not a malfunction, and it teaches adults that silence is not emptiness—sometimes, it is a song waiting to be sung. Recommended for fans of: Spirited Away , The Secret of Kells , Wolfwalkers , and anyone who has ever felt that being "strong" meant feeling nothing. song of the sea 2014
Macha is not a villain. She is a version of the grandmother. She is the personification of depression as maintenance . Her famous line: “I’ve taken the pain away. Isn’t that better?” The film’s final shot is not of a happy family
But watch closely: The "evil" owl witch, Macha, doesn’t steal emotions. She . Macha extracts feelings (pain, sorrow, anger) and turns them into stone jars. Her victims—including her own son, Mac Lir—become half-stone statues. They don’t die; they simply stop feeling . The grief is not solved
The plot: Ben’s mother, Bronach (a selkie), leaves on his birthday after giving birth to Saoirse (also a selkie). Six years later, Saoirse is mute, Ben is resentful, and their father is catatonic with grief.
Ali Abbasi is a writer and director. He was born 1981 in Iran and left his studies in Tehran to move to Stockholm, where he graduated with a BA in architecture. He then studied directing at the National Film School of Denmark, graduating with his short film M FOR MARKUS in 2011. His feature debut, SHELLEY premiered at the Berlinale in 2016 and was released in the US. He is best known for his 2018 film BORDER, which premiered in Cannes, where it won the Prix Un Certain Regard. The film was chosen as Sweden’s Academy Award® Entry, was widely released internationally, won the Danish Film Award and was nominated for three European Film Awards including Best Director, Best Screenwriter & Best Film. He is currently shooting the TV adaptation of “The Last of Us” for HBO in Canada.
Watch Ali Abbasi's movie Border on Edisonline.