Life For Ruth

Film Description

BAFTA nominated writer Janet Green adapted her successful stage play for the screen, which tells of the conflict when the death of their daughter casts doubts on a family's religious beliefs.

John Harris (Michael Craig – Robin of Sherwood) swims out to sea in a desperate attempt to save his daughter Ruth, who is desperately clinging to a boat, but before he can reach her, she is flung onto the nearby rocks where she lies bleeding and unconscious. The hospital insists she needs an urgent blood transfusion but Harris will not consent on religious grounds. His wife pleads for him to reconsider but it is too late and Ruth is dead. When the inquest clears Harris, the irate doctor (Patrick McGoohan) is determined not to let the matter rest.

Craig and McGoohan both give towering performances as ideological opposites who only want the best for the young girl and Janet Munro’s hypnotising execution of the grieving wife and mother earned her a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. Extreme religious principles and their conflicts with society are something that are all too prevalent in the 21st Century and this poignant film serves as a glaring reminder of their power, remaining as relevant today as it was over 40 years ago.

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Related Genres

• Television / Drama
• Television / British