Movie – Philomena

Am I going to continue my run of good films started before I went away to Canada in October? This has all the ingredients; namely Dame Judi Dench and a great story of a 70-something-old looking for her son who was taken away from her in Catholic Ireland some fifty years previously.Once I got over the birth scenes (have had to close my eyes since the sex education films at school) and the fact that Judi Dench looks all of her years in this film and isn’t it fantastic that she is still working and getting great parts like this (not that this should be unusual, but you know Hollywood), I settled into the story.This is based on a true story and book by former BBC journalist, Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan), who attempted to track down the son, a journey which meant taking Philomena to America. There are some cracking one-liners, funnier because they’re delivered by a mature lady talking openly about having unmarried sex in the 1950s.She is still a catholic, despite the nuns being responsible for taking her child away and the journalist is finding it hard to comprehend why Philomena even believes in God, never mind forgiving the nuns. The relationship develops and he is soon torn between his editors wishes to ‘find the story’ and looking out for this sweet, old lady who just wants to find out what happened to her son.What did happen is startling. I didn’t know the true story but still made some guesses early on. There are many poignant moments including the point at which they track down the person closest to the long-lost son.The whole film is incredible sad with equal amounts of joyous moments but ultimately, uplifting.8/10Smile factor 7/10Coffee rating Cappuccino