Philomena

I was sceptical when this British movie was up for Best Picture at the academy awards, the story seemed a little too simple and the cast while excellent maybe a bit too minimal. After actually watching the film I am still unresolved about the nomination; it was a fantastic film and the acting was brilliant as can well be expected from Judi Dench and Steve Coogan, and yet I am not sure whether it should really be in that category.  Maybe I have just become too accustomed to the more precarious, bold film making finding its way into this category, while these subtler works are often appreciated but not put on the pedestal.  

Based on real events, the film sees a young naive Irish girl seduced at a fairground, causing a pregnancy that condemns her to a nunnery that works damned, shamed girls like slaves in a laundry and sells their young children to rich Americans.  50 years later the young lady is an old woman and now is the time she decides to share her secret with her daughter and try to find her lost child.

Meanwhile the journalist Martin Sixsmith, played by Coogan, has been shamed and is looking for a way back in to the media world.  Though arrogant and prejudiced he lowers himself to working on a human interest story which he stipulates are for "vulnerable, weak-minded, ignorant people.”  They come across obstacles at the nunnery as records have been burnt and the nuns do not appear very cooperative, nevertheless a lead takes them to America and so the odd couple are thrust together on a journey across the Atlantic.

The contrasting characters create a beautiful dialogue that is witty and enlightening, especially as Philomena clings to her religion repenting for her sins while Martin blasphemes and curses the nuns and the Catholic church.  The film has been criticised for its depiction of the Catholic church and particularly the nuns involved in the case.  However Coogan and the real life Philomena Lee met with Pope Francis and Lee felt a sense of closure and forgiveness in his presence for the sin she felt burdened with for 50 years. The vatican then had a private screening of the film and Coogan was told that the film was "entirely in keeping with the tone of the Pope's approach”.  It seems the Pope has taken a more modern approach to criticism as something that is not unquestionably wrong and offensive.

Philomena is a thought provoking, emotional and entertaining drama that has the capacity to appeal to a wide audience, while illustrating the power of both journalism and religion.

Rating: 8/10