This is one of those romantic-comedy's that will charm the pants off of you. From it's beginning scene to it's last, everything here works together well, and is far more than the sum of it's parts.

Set in a coal mining town in Canada, we meet our main characters. Helena Bonham Carter (Margaret MacNeil) is an Irish descended Canadian who has lost her brother and father to working in the coal mines, and is living with her widowed mother. Together they take care of Margaret's grandfather who suffers from long time exposure to coal dust from having been a miner himself. Her youngest brother is tied up in a racy little romance with the daughter of one of the mine's managers, and the whole family is trying to keep him from becoming a coal miner and breaking the cycle of coal dependancy and tragedy.

Now before I go on, this is not a preachy melodrama. Everything in this movie is presented in a very down to earth way, and in some cases it's down right comical. There are some truly funny scenes, mixed in with some truly touching scenes. These are characters that aren't going to whine about their lives, but they do hope to improve them. That said, on with the review.

Clive Russell (Neil Currie) is a man who speaks Gaelic, and plays the pipes, and introduces Margaret's family to their cultural heritage. He's also a man who refuses to work in the mines. He does everything from washing dishes to odd jobs to avoid it, but in the end financial hardships drive him to seek a job "in the Pit".

...And that's all you're going to get from me. If you want any more than that, you'll have to rent it yourself.

Let me just say this. This is the kind of movie that should be remembered around Oscar time, and usually isn't. Finding a movie with a more solid script, fine directing, and performances that will wow you like Margaret's Museum, is hard to do.