"Philomena" (2013) is another Stephen Frears slap on Catholic church face and although this movie is very different and gentler in its scope, I can't help but think that director had already said it all in “The Magdalene Sisters". Effective as the story definitely is (based on best selling book "The Lost Child of Philomena Lee") it kind of points at tunnel vision of director and a certain obsession that simply can't go on and let past be past.
Where the book has completely different focus, movie is tailored all around its star Judi Dench - a strange re-thinking of the subject, almost like making Dr.Watson main character in movie version of Sherlock Holmes. The elderly veteran (Philomena from the title) is an old Irish lady in search of the son that nuns took away from her long time ago, when she was still one of the infamous laundresses. Movie is basically a odd -couple journey to Washington with Dench being sweet, old fashioned grandmother and journalist (Steve Coogan) acting as director's alter ego, educated, worldly and cynical. Their interaction - not the horrifying, true life story - slowly takes over the movie, with Dench easily stealing our hearts with her good-natured naivety, simpleness and clinging to religion, while journalist watches her with cool detachment of superiority that he thinks his privileged and moneyed status has.
While story does pull at viewer's heartstrings and we can't forget this is a true-life story, it does feel a bit condescending and patronising at moments - it suggests that deep inside, dear old Dench is true heroine and people around her cold-hearted merchants ready to sell her story for a sake of sensationalistic success and profit. As good as Dench is (and she does excellent job of being dowdy sweetheart) her character is too darn meek and forgiving as contrary to cold-hearted Coogan who is at the end filled with righteous anger about injustice of it all. Nuns at the convent have of course not given any reasons or explanations why they behaved they way they did and director is not even interested in showing them as human - though some will accept this point without questioning, personally I find it too black-and-white and one-sided. We came in 21st century not only with decision to close those convents but with enough courage to ask the questions and hear some answers. Stephen Frears manipulates sentiments without giving clerics any voice, except right to be bad guys filled with venom. From the bottom of my atheist heart, I feel this is all wrong, nothing in this world is black and white.
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