Warning: this review contains some spoilers, read on at your discretion
OK, I'll'll say it up front, I apologise if any of you have never heard of this flick. I mean it is exclusively centred around the nature of British criticality and the simplicity of Irish Catholicism set against the backdrop of a real-life story that occurred between the 1950s and the early 2000s. Now before you think "Oh come on Ted, a small-time British niche film based upon a real-life story? That sounds boring as shit!". Now before you put down your mince pie and cup of coffee let me just correct you there. Real-life-based films can indeed be a right pile of steaming shit (see the likes of The Blind Side (2009)), some can turn into what I like to call unappreciated unsuccessful (E.g. Glory (1989), The Last Samurai (2003) and Valkyrie (2008)). And while I sadly feel that Philomena will fall under that category, I do still think it is a damn touching and well-done film that deserves success and respect for pointing out issues that some people are uncomfortable talking about and a story about determination, perseverance and sadness.
Basically the story of this film is as of such. Based on the real story behind the book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee (2009) written by former BBC television and radio presenter Martin Sixsmith (although since the mid-2000s he has had a fortunate resurgence in career), the film follows Martin (played adeptly by Steve Coogan) helping an elderly Irish lady named Philomena (again played adeptly this time by Judi Dench) find her long-lost son Anthony who was born out of wedlock while Philomena was working at a nunnery in the 1950s. While Martin and Philomena go along their journey across Catholic Ireland and then the United States of America where her son was taken after he was separated from her by the nuns in a cruel money-making scheme where they sell Irish children to rich American travellers for large amounts of money, Martin helps Philomena see a bit more depth into her deep connection to Irish Catholicism and the events at the nunnery that seemingly scared her for much of her life until she was fortunately able to find out what happened to her son (who was renamed Michael when he arrived in the USA). Sadly as the film progresses we find out that Michael died in 1995 from AIDS after a long an prosperous career as a lawyer to the Reagan and Bush Sr administrations and a happy relationship with his partner Pete Olsson. This then prompts Philomena and Martin to go on a two-person crusade across a large part of the rest of the USA before finally returning to the nunnery in Ireland where this all started for a final clarification of the end of the story and potent criticism of the social injustices that can come about as a result of the misuse of religious authority and hegemony in a deeply religious society.
Now taking that into account, you have probably guessed that this film is not as action-packed as the last few films that I have reviewed on this blog, but really? I think that works in Philomena's favour. Not only is it a sad film with an important social message but its a stead-paced and largely peaceful film that while serving this social commentary up to you as bluntly as possible, also shows what a life of cynicism in the industry of journalism can do to a person's happiness and outlook on their own lives as well as the world indeed in general. The film achieves this latter point mainly by expressing the changes in character and the emotional mixtures within the characters via the marvellous portrayal of the real-life characters in the film such as Sixsmith by Coogan and Philomena herself by Dench. Probably the only other roles you might remember at all after this film is over is the surprisingly heart-warming and yet wordless portrayal of Michael/Anthony through a mixture of home-videos from decades ago juxtaposed against performances by Sean Mahon and the very young Harrison D'Ampney. The role of nun Hildegarde who is given the role of focal point of the criticisms aimed at the social impact of Irish Catholicism and in turn religion in general in this film is brilliantly portrayed as a cold, heartless and callous old witch both as a young nun in the 1950s by Kate Fleetwood and then as the aforementioned bitter, old nun in the early 2000s by Barbara Jefford.
This last role in the film in particular is given particular depth simply through her screen presence, the direction of Stephen Fears and the portrayal, of course, of the evil nun by Fleetwood and Jefford in turn. In all honesty, the scene showing the young Anthony being taken away to America, the eventual discovery that he died of AIDS and in turn the discovery about the administrative corruption of the nuns running the nunnery provides a solid background for the film's strong portrayal of the negative impacts of religion. But really, this is all given the focal point and true face of mean old sister Hildegarde who I can without hesitation, say is one of the most hateful movie villains that I have ever seen. Not that it isn't a pleasure to see such an interesting performance by both Fleetwood and Jefford in portraying the mean old lady and how cheer-worthily-entertaining it is to see the confrontation between the elderly nun and an incensed and sweary Martin at the end of the film over the injustices done against Philomena. Now while this will most definitely cause some raised eyebrows amongst supporters of or believers in Christianity, I believe that some criticism of the social impact of religion in intimate films such as Philomena is just what the doctor ordered.
To give a personal edge and spin onto this issue (which lets face it, is something I don't really do much of anyway), I used to be religious myself when I was younger as I used to believe in Judaism. However, some time after I had my Bar-Mitzvah when I was 13 I became disillusioned about believing in religion in general as I never felt as strong a connection to the religion as some of my more Jewish relatives might do so. I still go round my Grandmother's house now and again to celebrate events like passover, Jewish new-year and Channucka (I might have spelt that wrong) but I do so purely out of respect for my roots and to spend some quality time with the relatives on my mother's side of the family. So when I saw the extent to which Philomena followed Irish Catholicism to the extent that it actually emotionally distraught her for many years, I felt a strange and compelling emotional connection and kinship of sorts to the character both in terms of the real Philomena that the film was talking about and the character that Dench portrays through her excellent acting skills despite my current and stern belief in atheism. Therefore, while there isn't much heart-pounding action in this film whatsoever, the emotional and well-done acting and direction, fabulous storytelling and great social commentary was enough to keep me hooked.
The other main factor that helped to keep me hooked on this film throughout its running time however had to be the comedy which features not a great deal of laughs but laughs that nonetheless show how likeable the person Dench portrays is and the humorous clashes that occur when cynical atheism clashes with simple and conservative, semi-religious values in not so much an angry but more so accidental and innocent manner in the dialogue between Sixsmith and Philomena. Some of you who are not so familiar to British social comedy might want to brush up on the genre a little bit before watching the film so that you can truly appreciate these golden nuggets of laughter. But thank the lord! Uh...I mean thank goodness. Thank goodness that the comedy is there nonetheless as it adds even further depth to the film on top of the social commentary and the gloriously brilliant acting. Particularly, these comedic moments happen during Martin and Philomena's spats over the validity of basing your ethics on a religion, when Philomena shows how old-fashioned she is in her attitudes and sensibilities and when the two discuss books and what happened to them in the past. Now admittedly, that might initially seem a little bit boring in terms of the basis needed for good comedy but I assure you, in the same way that peanut butter and chocolate are a surprisingly good combination on toast, these comedic moments really shine out as being both funny and highlighting the emotional connection between Philomena and Martin as they make their, in turn, emotional journey to find truth.
In conclusion I would say that this film is a must-see if you like a good laugh while learning an important ethical and/or philosophical lesson (and don't contradict me, there is a difference between those two subjects). The direction is simple but well-done, the acting too is simple in showing relatively plain characters in modern British society with a paintwork of excellent acting skills by Judi Dench and good old Steve Coogan. As mentioned before, the social commentary about the social impact and power of religion might strike an uncomfortable chord with some viewers but I would still recommend the film as its message needs to be heard. As of now the film has won 11 awards and was nominated for 6 others so I don't really think that does anything less than speak of how much you should give this film the chance if you ever have the chance to do so in turn. Seriously, go watch this film.
Also before I give the rating I would like to give a shout-out to a fellow blogger I knew in college before I started my Gap year and she went off to study at Duhram university. Her name is Eliza and she offers a humorous and honest perception of student life starting off at university and raises some interesting points (so far the best one has been about living with the opposite gender and smoking) so I'd strongly recommend that you check her blog out: http://howtodoolittle.blogspot.co.uk/
Camera-work: 7.5/10
Characters/Acting: 10/10
Storyline/Plot/action: 8.75/10
Direction: 7.5/10
OVERALL RATING: 33.75/40
No comments:
Post a Comment