When I picked up Philomena,
Karter was amused. He pronounced it in the most annoying way to make fun of me.
I said I liked to see Judie Dench. He peered at the cover of the DVD and
started laughing. He said he was expecting a sexy lady. I asked him to enjoy
the disappointment. Judy Dench has always been one of my favorite actors. I
also like the way she is. She is old, but extremely beautiful with her
exceptionally matured acting talent.
Philomena revolves
around an old lady from the working class back ground in London. She grew up in
Ireland where she became pregnant from a young man in 1951.Her father sends her
to Catholic Convent where she delivers the baby and toils seven days a week to
pay the cost of her stay. Catholic convent forcefully takes her baby boy away
for adoption. After 50 years, one time government spokesperson and now almost
jobless, Martin Smith is asked to write about Philomena and her long lost son.
Martin initially rejects the idea of human interest story. But later joins
Philomena in her emotional journey to find her long lost son. They visit the
convent and the nuns deny the existence of any adoption files. They say that a
fire mishap destroyed all the records. But they show her the contract she
signed 50 years back, restricting her rights to contact her baby boy. You
understand from the way the nuns and convent is shown, that, some mystery is
yet to be revealed. But the movie does not the take the road of mysteries. It rather
takes an emotional path. It shows the local bar people speak about the infamous
adoption deals of the convent. They mention that, children were sold to 1000 pounds
and were carried to families in United States of America.
Philomena along with
Martin Smith reaches America. She, like a child smiles and tries to enjoy the
simple pleasures of this new land. Martin understands that the boy was adopted
by Doc and Marge Hess and further search provides him the precise details of
Antony who was renamed as Michael and had a high profile life as a lawyer in
America. He served as a senior official in Regan and Bush administrations. But
the enthusiasm ends when the last line says, he died eight years earlier. Philomena
who was annoying Martin with her pleasure of extended freebies in the
restaurant, comes back to the table, sees her son’s photograph and becomes
elated. Then she sees the last line and innocently enquires the equally aggrieved
Martin whether he is dead. She tries to cover her face with her both hands and
cries like a child. I had tears too.
Martin finds the potential
of his human interest book on Philomena and her long gone son, reaches a dead
end. He decides to take Philomena back to England. But his boss and Philomena desire
a different ending. Both want to explore the story further. Philomena wants to
meet people who knew Michael. She thinks about Michael every other minute and
she wants to find out whether Michael ever done it. Back in the hotel, Martin
shows her a photograph of Michael, but she finds Martin in it also. Martin
admits that, he really met this man. Philomena wants to know how firm his
handshake was and what did he tell him. Martin visibly creates answers for her
satisfaction. She looks strangely excited.
Former colleague of Michael
reveals that, Michael was gay and he died of AIDS. Philomena still asks whether
he had any children. She explains the possibilities of being a bi-curious man. She
is not shocked by the fact that, her son was gay. She later on explains to Martin
that, she has always known it, since he was very sensitive as a child. Philomena
asks if Michael ever mentioned Ireland. His friend says ‘no’. They also visit
his adopted sister. Mary also says that they never had discussion on Ireland.
We see an emotionally crumbling Philomena. She begins to see that, it was not
her son Michael, it was somebody else. She fears that her son hated her. She
desires to go back. The repeated efforts of Martin to meet the partner of Michael also fail. More
than anything, he also doubts if Michael hated his roots. But finally they meet
Pete Olssen almost vehemently.
We see an excited
Philomena watching the video of her son that we were shown in bits and pieces
all the way from the beginning of the movie. We also see an emotional Martin, watching
both the video and Philomena. Final footage shows an extremely sick Michael at
the convent in Ireland along with the Nuns. Pete explains that, Michael always
wondered about his mother. He visited the convent to find her, but the nuns
told him that, his mother had abandoned her.
Pete says that, he was actually buried there in the convent since he had
thought it to be his home. We feel happy. But we have tears.
They come back to the
Convent and an angry Martin storms at the Nun. She refuses to accept the
accusations and replies that, it was a penance to the carnal pleasures that, Philomena
had in adolescence. Philomena chooses to forgive her. Martin couldn’t and the
movie ends with Philomena asking him to publish her story.
It is not a great movie
on the basis of techniques and mastery in the craft of storytelling. Philomena is
plain and plaintive. The few discussions the movie presents about God, Sin and Atheism
do not become predominant. In fact we forget all such matters and empathize
with Philomena. Judie Dench is amazing. But it is not a
remarkable performance. But she is worth every awards and accolades she
received. Nobody else can portray Philomena Lee in this gravity. It’s a good
book and the movie is not far behind.
See it.
