This documentary explores the reality behind the now-legendary documentary film about the Irish Isle of Aran and its inhabitants, as depicted in the 1934 film Man of Aran. In the earlier film, the heroic effort of men to cope with the daunting natural conditions on the island was glorified. The director interviews one of the women who appeared in the first film and combs literature and history for the reasons for this glamorization of what was in all likelihood an unbearably harsh existence.

~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide