On 'The Salt Path'

Last night I went to see the film of Raynor Winn's 2018 memoir of the same name. I had read and enjoyed the book soon after it came out, and so was keen to see the big screen version. (Where I live in west Dorset local cinemas seem to have convened a conspiracy of the reasonably priced, and if you pay more than £6 a ticket you can feel aggrieved. Hence, aside from the pandemic, cinema going is very popular, and there are three venues within five miles of me. I suspect that the margin is in the popcorn, but you don't feel the hit that way. Quite a commendable business model, really).

I had read some rather mixed reviews of the film when it previewed, so wasn't expecting greatness, but was pleasantly surprised.

Unflinching in its portrayal of the desperate situation Ray and her husband Moth find themselves in when they are left penniless after losing their Welsh farm house as the result of a bad investment, and-in the same week-Moth's diagnosis of a degenerative neurological condition, it then builds into an essay of hope and enduring love. The healing power of nature, a major theme of the book, and Winn's follow up 'The Wild Silence', is not made explicit, but is instead conveyed by the cinematography of the fantastic landscape.

When the book first came out, a friend took it as her recommendation to her book club. And one of the ladies in the club really took against it, saying that she thought Ray's initial decision to embark on the walk, and drag her ill husband along with her, was selfish. This had not been my interpretation at all, but watching the film I became aware of how much of a physical struggle it had initially been for Moth, something I had previously accepted without questioning. And yet the walk revived him, and set in motion the writing of an international best seller, with resultant royalties, and now, judging from the full screening last night, a very popular film.

So, love and hope, but also that sometimes the best decisions we end up making are forced from us by dire circumstance, and are both bold enough to be outrageous, and yet also turn out to be better than we could ever have hoped. What was true on the Salt Path is a truth that I'm sure will resonate.