The Baby in the Basket
Located on a remote Scottish island the walls of St Augustine’s stand strong against the coming storm, under the care of the Mother Superior and the watchful eye of God neither of whom can offer respite or comfort from the sounds of the bombs dropping on Norway, carried on the cold winds across the North Sea, handyman Daniel having served his time on the front lines of the war but now having been sent home for reasons undisclosed.
Sister Eleanor a poor fit, given to vanity and drinking, the Mother Superior’s previously bountiful patience is now worn thin, while German immigrant Sister Lucy has taken a vow of silence, her exile a respite from the taunts she received on the mainland for her nationality, treated as though she were the enemy, but there are other matters of pressing concern, first Sister Annalise who was chased through the grounds by a wolf, then the arrival of the baby in the basket.
Set in 1944 and filmed in the magnificent location of St Conan’s Kirk on the shore of Loch Awe in Argyll and Bute on Scotland’s west coast, The Baby in the Basket is directed by Andy Crane and Nathan Shepka from a screenplay by Tom Jolliffe based on a story co-written by Shepka who also appears as Daniel and serves as coordinator for the inevitable nun fights, with Werewolves of the Third Reich‘s Annabelle Lanyon, Book of Monsters‘ Michaela Longden and Winnie the Pooh’s Amber Doig-Thorne as Sisters Annalise, Eleanor and Agnes.
Convinced the baby is evil and promptly locked in the basement where she cries that the devil is among them, confining Agnes does not stop the aberrant behaviour which spreads to the other sisters, Mother Superior (The Living Daylights’ Maryam d’Abo) struggling to contain a madness which has no apparent cause nor purpose, The Baby in the Basket existing in a lingering void of dialogue delivered without feeling where things happen with little prompting or consequence and the behaviour of the characters is never believable.
Mother Superior deciding to name the baby Peter and confessing she always wanted a child, no alarms are raised or questions asked other than a token search of the grounds; one of the sisters later found dead, it is declared a suicide and she is buried without investigation and Daniel is asked to clean up the blood, but on neither occasion is any apparent attempt made to inform the mainland authorities of the increase or decrease of the headcount of the population of the island, the war presumably taking precedence.
Unsure of direction or destination, with tenuous atmosphere generated by flickering candles, rattling idols, whispered voices or a dash of nunsploitation as one of the sisters dances naked in the gardens for reasons unexplored, Shepka manfully baring his own titties in order to maintain balance, the strange occurrences never feel more than random oddities rather than portents, and with Let Us Prey and Consecration having covered Catholic guilt and the extremes of piety with a more original approach to sin in isolated communities, abandonment perhaps might have been best for The Baby in the Basket.
The Baby in the Basket will be available on DVD and digital platforms from Monday 17th February
