The Secret of Kells (Blu-ray/DVD Combo)

I've had an interest in Irish and Celtic culture for several years, and this movie is like a love letter to that culture from its people. Directed by Tomm Moore, it is a story about monks, faeries, wolves, vikings, illuminated manuscripts, and terrifying creatures of legend. Watching it is like seeing an illuminated manuscript come to life before your eyes; perspective is an afterthought, letting its characters swing and run through a changing, visually engaging environment. Colourful smoke, shimmers, shapes and shadows move beautifully across the screen; to think this was made in Adobe Flash is absolutely unreal! Bruno Coulais' spirited soundtrack beats the old Celtic drums and plays the pipes with such vibrant energy it almost feels like an extra colour you can't see; the soundtrack is worth picking up on its own, if you can. This was an unexpected nomination for the 2010 Academy Award for Best Animated Film. Featured on the Blu-ray special features is one of the film's characters, a faerie girl named Aisling, giving a short interview about the nomination. She is surprised, but grateful for the recognition. We should be, as well.As for what the film is about, Brendan is a young monk in the Abbey of Kells, an eager, boisterous young lad that likes to find as much beauty in the world as he can, and faces it with courage and a strong spirit. He lives under his uncle, Abbot Cellach, a stern, disciplined man of God, who has laboured for months to build a huge defensive wall around the Abbey grounds, to defend from the coming Vikings. The walls soar impossibly high in the air, and teams of labourers work tirelessly on the scaffolds to complete it. Soon, a white-haired traveller comes to the abbey, and addresses himself as Brother Aiden of Iona, spoken of in hushed tones by the scribes in the scriptorium. He brings with him the Book of Iona, rumoured to be of such beauty that looking upon it can smite demons and blind the sinful. Brendan's imagination alights with visions of divinely inspired writing when he meets Aiden, and Aiden is a playful, encouraging artist, who believes that Brendan has potential for greatness.Knowing what a strict influence the Abbot is on young Brendan, he encourages him to find some berries in the nearby woods, to make green ink. Brendan's never been outside the walls before, but he believes he's up to the challenge... at least until he gets lost. He is found by Aisling, a strange girl with piercing green eyes and flowing white hair. She hops and darts around the forest like an animal, and has a harsh yet curious disposition. When Brendan describes the Book of Iona, Aisling is intrigued, and offers to show him where the berries live, while also showing off "her" forest. The two soon form a friendship.From here, big changes start to happen for the characters. Brendan is taught the delicate skill of illustration, Abbot Cellach becomes more and more worried as more and more survivors of the Viking raids seek shelter in Kells, Aisling grows closer with Brendan, and the Book of Iona draws ever closer to completion. Things are complicated by the invasion of the Vikings, however, depicted in this film as faceless black monsters, laying waste and leaving trails of red wherever they go. The characters are pushed to their limits when the Vikings invade, and they must come to grips with what is most important to them. The various scenes throughout the movie are inventive and unexpected, and are well-worth discovering on your own.This isn't a story strictly "about" Irish culture or Irish people, but it creates a backdrop for a very Irish story. Catholic and Celtic symbolism feature throughout the film like a pair of skilled dancers, the entire cast is Irish (aside from the bizarrely out-of-place Chinese, Italian, African and English comic-relief monks), and much of the art style draws from insular art. For the Celtic enthusiast, there are neat little historical touches; the Abbey of Kells was a real place with a tall tower in the centre, Iona is a real island you can visit, and at one point, Brendan faces off against the Crom Cruach, a pre-Christian deity that demanded human sacrifice. Smaller touches include Aiden's cat, Pangur Bán, named after an ancient Irish poem about a monk's pet cat, and Aisling (Irish for "dream") is named for a form of Irish poetry, where a white spectral woman comes to someone and gives them a vision. If you love Irish culture, there's a lot to please you. If you've never really cared, you will after this movie.As for the technical details of the Blu-ray, it is an excellent production. The packaging features the iconic image of Aisling's face staring out from the woods, but it smacks a bit of ten-minutes-in-Quark-Express, repeatedly mentioning its Academy Award nomination, and the box has an annoying little latch that I keep forgetting to open, but as for the contents, they are excellent. A small booklet is included with a lavishly illustrated prequel comic, called "The Secret of Kells: Origins", detailing the backstory of Aisling and Brendan, and the fates of their families. For being such a short comic, it fleshes out the movie's protagonists very well.The Blu-ray features a number of special features, including a commentary from the director, producer, and art director, videos from the voice recording sessions, and featurettes about the making of the film. As for the movie itself, it looks and sounds absolutely gorgeous! Watching it on a 1080p television, the colours absolutely explode with beauty, and it has a crisp, superb 5.1-channel DTS-HD sound mix, delicate with its ambience and subtle voicework, yet intense and full of life during the film's more thrilling scenes. The DVD is no slouch, either, featuring the same 5.1 audio mix, as well as a 2.0 mix for more basic systems, but not quite as many special features. This is a movie that absolutely begs for the best possible viewing experience.To put it short, this is a beautiful and unique animated film, rising to the occasion on Blu-ray and DVD. The movie's probably on Netflix and Amazon Instant, but having seen it on both, I can assure you you want the full, uncompromised HD presentation for this movie. This is a worthy addition to any Blu-ray shelf for any viewer that likes a bit of fun, beauty, and heart in their movie collection, and at this price, you won't regret it.

The Secret of Kells is a charming movie that both captivates the imagination and also revisits a time in the early history of Ireland, between the 8th and 9th centuries, when Celtic monks lived in stone towers and walled complexes to ward off Viking invaders, and spent their days writing religious gospel books using calf vellum and quill pens to illustrate them, with beautiful hand-drawn letters and calligraphy.In real life, The Book of Kells which the movie is based upon, is a masterpiece and one of the finest examples of illuminated manuscripts and religious works from the Celtic period of Irish history, in existence today. It is based on The Four Gospels of the New Testament. The Book was never completed, and it is not known exactly where it was originally created, but is believed to have been worked on at the Abbey of Kells, and perhaps also at Iona, and maybe even in Lindisfarne, England. It is also believed to have been moved perhaps more than once, to protect it from the Viking raids during the 8th-10th centuries that were occurring in Ireland at the time. Today many pages from the book can be seen in a museum exhibit at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland, where parts of it are kept under glass, with specific examples having been reproduced as large banners that hang in the exhibit. The Book and its pages are filled with beautiful drawings and letters that show mythical animals, creatures, and people, interlaced with intricate Celtic knots and patterns. The type of drawing and artwork is referred to as Insular art, which used vibrant colors derived from vegetable and plant dies which produced inks in many beautiful colors, including purples, reds, greens, and pinks, as well as lapis lazuli, which was used for blue. Some of these dyes were created by the monks themselves from oak trees and berries, while others were imported from far-away countries. The viewer will be spellbound by all of the amazing drawings and fanciful letters and illustrations within the pages from the Book of Kells.The movie is an animated story that revisits the theory that the book was hidden to protect it during the Viking raids, and places the viewer back in time at the Abbey of Kells, where a young boy named Brendan who lives with his Uncle who is the Abbot in charge of the Abbey, is curious and interested in learning about the world outside of the walls of the village and Abbey, but is forbidden to go outside of them by his Uncle, who is only concerned with protecting Kells. He becomes friends with an older Abbot named Brother Aiden, who has come to Kells from another village that was raided and burned by the Vikings, and who keeps with him the secret Book which he has been trying to finish, but has been unable to. He captures Brendan's imagination and teaches him how to write and create calligraphy for the book, and encourages him to search for a special berry that can be used to create the colors needed for the illustrations, but the berry only exists in a forest outside of the walls of the village, and Brendan's Uncle has forbidden him to go there.The movie itself is fashioned of beautiful two-dimensional illustrative artwork that has been animated, and which mirrors the artwork and illustrations found in the real Book of Kells, with lots of swirls and magical designs that seemingly come to life and envelope both the characters, and the viewer. Brendan and the Abbots occupy this illustrated world, and through it, tell a story (which might have actually happened back in these medieval times) thereby creating a fictionalized and imaginative account of how the real Book of Kells may have come into being, as well as who may have created it. As Brendan explores with Brother Aiden, the necessary tools needed to illustrate the book, he is swept away on an adventure of his own outside of the walls of the city, in a magical forest, where he meets a girl named Aisling who along with her cat, seems to hold all of the secrets of the forest. She also knows where to find the special berries and other things that are needed to complete the Book of Kells, and assists Brendan in his quest to find them. From here, the viewer is treated to the beautiful animated world of the forest, where trees and stone objects come to life, and wolves highlight both the dangers and the rewards that Brendan must contend with, in order to find the magical things that are needed to help him to complete the components of the book. He faces grave dangers in the forest, but overcomes them, in order to do so. The animated illustrations serve to tell the story of how Brendan conquers the evils he encounters, and helps to save his village, as well as the Book of Kells.One of the songs in the movie is based upon a real poem that written by a medieval monk, (who may or may not have lived at Kells) about his cat named Pangur Ban, in which he describes how he and his cat are both at a "like task." He, the monk, in trying to work on his writings, and the cat, by hunting mice all night. The monk is, through his writings (and poetry), searching for knowledge, and thereby, "Turning darkness into light" which is actually the last line of the poem. This line can also be a metaphor for both the movie, and the story behind The Book of Kells. The movie captures this thought quite elegantly in both its animations, as well as its imaginative rendition of the history of how the book came about.More can be read about the Pangur Ban poem, at this link: [...].