The Dawning (1993)

Made in 1988 before Anthony Hopkins won his Oscar for The Silence of the Lambs and never released theatrically, this tragic tale of an IRA man and a young woman (Rebecca Pidgeon) in Ireland in 1920 clearly has been released to capitalize on Hopkins' current status. It's not a major performance, but a sturdy one (the role is underwritten), and ingenue Pidgeon is wonderful as the impulsive and curious colleen who thinks Hopkins may be her father. The Dawning, though compelling, is often a little too genteel, lacking the fire the story's tragic dimensions demand. B