Pilgrimage

Kilmanan, 1209 and a small order of monks are visited by Brother Geraldus (Stanley Weber) who brings with him a papal decree: he is to take a sacred relic the monks have been hiding back to Rome. To ensure safe passage to Waterford where a France-bound boat awaits, Geraldus is accompanied by the reluctant brothers – novice Diarmuid (Holland), wise Ciaran (Lynch), cowardly Cathal (O'Connor), guarded Rua (Ruaidhrí Conroy), and a muscular mute (Bernthal) - but the fellowship of the rock is beset by treacherous Normans (headed up by Richard Armitage) and marauding Celts…

Similar in some respects to the so-so Nic Cage medieval road trip Season of the Witch, Pilgrimage is an altogether more violent and dour affair. Director Brendan Muldowney (whose Savage and Love Eternal are criminally underrated) works hard to realise the era (the dialogue switches willy-nilly from Irish to English to Latin to French) and instil an air of uneasiness, slowly but surely cranking up the tension with spooky imagery as the journey enters more perilous terrain. Dark woods and dead birds at the foot of gnarled trees give way to impaled foxes, heads on spikes and severed hands. The perpetual grey skies and barren landscapes help with the sodden mood and when there is a moment of silence it's usually punctured by the cry of vixens. It's an unsettling and downbeat film.

And yet despite the walking pace of the travelling party there's a terrific momentum maintained throughout. When action does get underway - the Celt ambush is a bloody one – Muldowney shows himself to be adept at handling the swordplay. It's not all blood and guts either with the director, working from Jamie Hannigan's tight script, playing around with the theme that although there is a desire for peace there is an instinct for violence in men, and the hypocrisy of the pious: a person is worth less than a rock, and the exchange of murder for absolution.

Despite Holland's rising star status and other familiar faces it is Bernthal's (Wolf of Wall Street) mute with the shady past and Armitage’s cold Norman knight that catch the eye. Bernthal veers from menace (just by standing nearby can give a scene an edge) and sensitivity, while Armitage is the perfect villain: highly intelligent and cruel.

If there is a criticism it’s that the soundtrack of sombre strings and monk chants is overused, and at ninety-six minutes the short running time chips away at the epic it wants to be.