The Hanging Sun

Directed by
Francesco Carrozzini
Production
a Sky Original film
produced by Cattleya
and Groenlandia
Release
2022
Category
Movies
Cast
  • ALESSANDRO BORGHI
  • JESSICA BROWN FINDLAY
  • SAM SPRUELL
  • FRED SCHMIDT
  • RAPHAEL VICAS
  • PETER MULLAN
  • CHARLES DANCE
Plot

The setting is a large port in Northern Europe, where, in the middle of the night, John decides for the first time to disobey his crime boss father, Dad, and to run as far away as possible. The criminal life his father had led him to is no longer for him, and he shudders at the thought that, after all, it is the only life Dad has ever prepared him for. John arrives at a tiny village in the far North, where the sun never seems to set, and he hides out in a cabin in the woods, waiting for the documents he needs to continue his flight. But Dad can’t give up on the only son he really cares about: he methodically reconstructs his movements and locates his whereabouts, and then orders John’s brother Michael to go after him. In this tense time and with his brother on his trail, John meets Lea and her son Caleb.

Lea is a young fisherwoman who has for years suffered the abuse of a violent and alcoholic husband, Aaron – who recently lost his life at sea under unclear circumstances. Like John, Lea also leads a life in the shadow of her father, Jacob, the village preacher, who has always forbidden her to harbor any notions that do not conform to his severe version of Christian morality. As the days go by, the three grow closer. For Lea, John is the first man able to offer her protection, but without depriving her of her freedom; and for Caleb, he is an unhoped-for father figure with whom he can share his world. John also seems to glimpse in this encounter the possibility of redemption and a new life.

Inevitably, they begin to feel like a newly-formed family. Yet, as Michael tracks his brother down, ever closer, the circle also tightens around Lea, with her father wanting to ensnare her again in a life she rejects. Lea and John must strive to free themselves from their respective fathers; only then will they be able to put behind them their painful pasts and finally open up to the possibility of a new life together.

the extreme north, a place and a community out of this world and out of time