On second viewing - SPOILERS

I didn't catch it at first, but the secondary plot of the young boy whose mother died was the young Bill Furlong (Cillian Murphy). There were hints enough throughout, but maybe I just wasn't paying attention. Or maybe I'm not the sharpest tool in the toolbox, now in my dotage.

Compliments of IMDB's trivia, Eileen Walsh (Eileen Furlong) was in The Magdalene Sisters, which I, as a first-generation Irishman born, bred, and living my whole life in the USA, found to be shocking to say the least. I had no idea at the time that such places as the Magdalene laundries and such things as were portrayed there took place.

A beautiful ending to this film came when Bill rescued the pregnant young girl Zara (Sarah Redmond) after finding her for the second time in the coal bin at the laundry, taking her home with him to his own family of wife and five daughters, who, unlike Zara, were fortunate to have a loving father and mother of their own to protect them. He had been warned of how much trouble he might have and how he might be looked upon by the townspeople. But he just didn't give a shite. He wanted to do the right thing.

Of course, in the real world he would have been tracked down and arrested for kidnapping, or something, and the girl returned to the Magdalene laundry. But this was not the real world, so who gives another shite.

Altogether a beautiful and subtle film, but you do have to pay attention.