When it comes to going to the movies, it’s easy to get caught in the buzz of the big, exciting blockbusters. Honestly, it’s how the cinemas survive. I certainly don’t mean to dissuade you from seeing films like “The Hunger Games: Catching Fire,” but sometimes you’re hungry for a different kind of movie. Sometimes, ‘splosions and overdramatic love scenes are just too much for your little heart to handle. Sometimes, you want just an all-around good movie. No sequels, no action scenes, just something that is actually relatable to you as a human. That’s “Philomena.”
“Philomena” is a British drama based on the 2009 investigative book “The Lost Child of Philomena Lee” by Martin Sixsmith. The film is an emotional tale of a mother’s lifelong search for a son she never got to know, assisted by investigative journalist Martin Sixsmith, who hoped to turn the journey into a human interest story for publication.
The movie follows Sixsmith (Steve Coogan, who also co-wrote the screenplay) as he is presented with the opportunity of a lifetime: to help reunite a mother with her son. Sixsmith soon meets Philomena Lee (Judi Dench), an old Catholic Irish woman who, as the story goes, got knocked up when she was a teenager and was forced to live with the nuns at a convent in Roscrea, Ireland, near her father. At the convent, she was coerced into giving her son up for adoption to Americans she never met. All she was left with was a photograph. They didn’t even let her say goodbye.
Lee and Sixsmith, unable to find the evidence they needed from the unhelpful nuns, decide to set sail for America in hopes of finding her son.
Some of the most touching moments of the film had Lee discovering the wonders of the world, despite her advanced years. Sixsmith is depicted as a worldly man who has since lost the joys of travel to the plague of routine; Lee is an old Irish woman who’s excited at every turn. During her first time in the United States, Lee is amazed at the portion sizes of the meals and simply in awe of the breakfast buffet she finds at the hotel they stay at while in D.C. It’s so heartwarming to see someone so excited over the little things that many people take advantage of every day. Lee is very much like that grandmother that everybody always wanted.
The story also follows the spiritual growth of the two characters as Sixsmith, a self-proclaimed atheist, often questions how Lee, a liberal-minded but devout Catholic, maintains her faith even after all that happened to her in the convent. While they both maintain their respective faith by the end of the film, there’s an observable softening of Sixsmith’s cynicism in the end.
Coogan and Dench deliver noteworthy performances that are quite rare in movies today. While “Philomena” isn’t a “Catching Fire,” it is still definitely worth your time and consideration. It’s a movie that will make you laugh, cry and praise.