Review of 'Sanctuary'

A film about people with learning disabilities in a very bleak-looking Galway City, Ireland. A group of people with learning disabilities go on an outing to the cinema, and their not-very-competent (but kind) care worker arranges for two of them to have a romantic liaison in a hotel room.

I can't say I enjoyed the film, but I think it was good and I'm glad I saw it. There are a few laughs - it's sort of a comedy - but it's also very serious. I just don't think about people with Down's syndrome very much, and at the beginning watching them acing made me feel more uncomfortable that I'd like to admit to myself or anyone else.

As others more knowledgeable than me are probably already aware, after a little while you stop seeing the disability and start to see the individuals. I might have known intellectually that people with learning disabilities have the same emotions and human engagements as other 'normal' people, but after watching this I actually felt it.

Watched at Lansdown Film Club in Stroud.