The Salt Path (12A)
Directed by Marianne Elliott
⭑⭑⭑✩✩

IN 2013 husband and wife Raynor and Moth Winn were dealt the severest of double blows — they were forcibly made homeless when they lost their farm in Wales and in the same week he was diagnosed with a rare terminal disease called CBD (corticobasal degeneration).

Based on Ray’s memoir, The Salt Path, this tells the profound story of how having lost everything they set off from Minehead in Somerset to walk the 630-mile South West Coast Path, which took them along the Devon and Dorset coastline down to Cornwall. While the vistas were breathtaking, the rugged terrain and the harsh, unrelenting weather conditions were difficult to contend with, taking their toll on the two of them as Moth’s condition worsened. 

This powerful and moving debut feature by award-winning theatre director Marianne Elliott celebrates the resilience of the human spirit faced with endless adversities as this remarkable couple refused to give up, no matter what they were confronted with along this arduous journey, living in their tents. It is portrayed with great conviction and humanity by Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs who give superlative performances as Ray and Moth. Anderson portrays a delicate balance between quiet strength and raw vulnerability while exuding a simmering anger. Isaac’s Moth remains optimistic and ever hopeful against all the odds. 

The film also shines a light on the issue of rural homelessness which is rarely discussed and appears to be an invisible problem. When Ray and Moth tell people that they are homeless their attitudes to them suddenly shift and they can’t get away from them quickly enough. 

The walk is intercut with flashbacks of their past as they go to court to save their farm and their livelihoods after making a financial investment which went awry and left them liable for the debts. Plus going home to tell their two children that they had lost the family farm where they grew up and had been given five days to pack up and leave.  

The authorities refused to help them as a housing officer informs them that as Moth does not look sick and his death isn’t imminent, he does not qualify for emergency housing and the waiting list is two years long. 

It is a heartbreaking but awe-inspiring tale which puts you directly by Ray and Moth’s side and is a stark reminder that this could happen to any of us.

In cinemas May 30.