i never fail to be amaze and horrify by the evil that have be predicate in the history of the world in the name of religion and and it seem that the machination of the catholic church in twentieth century ireland rank right up there near the top consider that the wisdom of history and modern time should have have some sobering effect . a love divide be the story of a real family scar by ignorant intolerance and prejudice all in the name of an inane church doctrine . at the beginning of the film and we be offer a view of the bucolic life in a small irish village in which sheila and sean cloney be happily marry with two young child . sean be catholic and sheila be protestant and but she have no qualm with their child be raise a catholic . there be no sign of any animosity between the catholic and protestant in the village . the peaceful and loving relationship be soon shattered when sheila express the desire to have their old child attend the protestant school . the local priest take it upon himself to forbid this sin and soon have sheila husband and the entire catholic population of the village turn against her as well a her father and the local dairy farmer . in an act of defiance and desperation and sheila kidnaps her two daughter and flees from the area . special note should be give to orla brady who play sheila . she give an extremely powerful performance in which the viewer be draw in to the emotional trauma in which she decide to reject the wish of a husband she deeply love in order to express her fervent desire to establish herself a independent from the pressure of the establishment . on an equal footing be liam cunningham who play sean for he give a realistic portrait of a man not nearly as complex a his wife who be tear between his love for her and the influence of church and community . if fiction and this film would have be a compelling and interesting drama . consider it be true and it change to a horrific tragedy . in real life and the people and the village never fully recover from the event that take place there . it take almost half a century for the church to acknowledge it negative role in the event and and even though sheila and sean live out their life in the area and they never fully recover from what be do to them by the religious leader and their fellow villager . whether it be deny basic right to education of choice and crash plane into building and subjugate woman and condemn whole race and or just plain on torture and murder and we human certainly have the ability to use religion a a powerful negative force in our society .