The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry

This, for me, is a "companion piece" to last year's LIVING, since it again has an elderly gent in the central role. Like other "road movies", the film alternates between motivation and meetings. Harold crosses paths with a few fairly ordinary people who each have a tale to tell. At one stage he becomes a kind of Messiah figure, leading a flock of followers, but he arrives in Berwick on his own to resolve the issue of the dying woman's role in his life.

I got a slight sense of "wokeness" being applied to both the characters and the actors, and there are a few scenes that don't really ring true. The best element is the seesaw on which Harold's marriage is quietly riding.

Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton are two fine actors on top form here. This is another small movie with a big heart which it wears on its sleeve.

Lovely movie, with the ever so lovely Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton as the typical retired couple, going about their humdrum lives, until the post arrives from an old friend of Harold's. Life just isn't the same again, as something inside Harold beckons him on a journey, which unfolds the reason of why he must take the journey. Wonderfully captured, but I kept thinking I had watched it before. And I had. The equally excellent Timothy Spall in the Last Bus, travelling the length of the UK with his wife's ashes to the place they met in Lands End. If you like Jim Broadbent as Harold Fry, you will love Timothy Spall in The Last Bus.

The story of Harold Fry's 500 mile walk from Devon to the English border with Scotland is well translated to the big screen by director Hettie MacDonald in this low key but very watchable film. When retired Brewery manager Harold (Jim Broadbent) receives a letter from an old work colleague that she is dying in a hospice at the the other end of the country in Berwick-upon-Tweed, he writes a letter. However feeling it is not enough, he cannot bring himself to post it and, after talking to a shopgirl in a petrol station, decides on the spot to walk to see her, leaving his wife Maureen (Penelope Wilton) sick with worry and frantic about being on her own. As Harold makes his way up north his 'Pilgrimage' starts to become public knowledge and he soon attracts a following on both social media and then the headline news. On the journey he meets an assortment of characters, from a well meaning and helpful Slovakian woman, a woman on a farm, a stranger at a railway station, a pill popping confused 18 year old, a stray dog and a small following of people who want to join his pilgrimage. And as Harold makes his journey we start to learn that his life and relationship with Maureen is not as boring as it seems, for beneath the surface he is masking a terrible tragedy and a fractured relationship.

The story might be slight but I found it nonetheless compelling. Both Broadbent and Wilton produce powerful performances and as the film progresses their characters personalities start to make sense. The film is also well made and full of good performances and doesn't feel overlong.

If you've seen the Timothy Spall film 'The Last Bus' (2021), the Robert Redford film 'A Walk in the Woods' (2015) or the Emilio Estevez/Martin Sheen film 'The Way' (2010) then some of this may seem vaguely familiar to you as, like them, this is a gentle road movie that is in part, about using the journey as a way of self discovery and confronting ones own emotional issues that will appeal to older viewers in particular. It is a well acted drama with a ring of truth to it that should appeal to those enjoy gentle drama.

In a bid to avoid the rush of people going to see Guardians this weekend I decided to catch up on last weeks new release that I unfortunately missed. The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry is one of those small British films that we maybe get once or twice a year that are mainly targeted towards the older generation. The film takes next to no time to get going as it opens with Harold played by the always brilliant Jim Broadbent receiving a letter from an old friend. The letter reads that Queenie who Harold used to work with but hasn't seen for a long time has been admitted to a hospice and is in the final stages of cancer. Initially Harold writes a letter back but on his way to the post office he meets someone who changes his mind and he decides to walk from the south of England to the North some just under 500 miles as he believes he can save Queenies life by doing so. This film is very much about people, the good, the bad and the human spirit of being able to make mistakes in life but not having to feel like those mistakes define you. Along his journey we learn a lot about Harold and his life and ultimately the real reason he has embarked on his journey but I won't say any more as not to spoil it. I think the thing this film surprised me the most with was that it's really deep and real and I left the cinema actually feeling quite emotional rather than uplifted as you'd perhaps expect with this type of thing. Yes some of the pacing isn't perfect and heck perhaps you wanted a feel good film but this was different and it gave me something I look for in films which is great writing that accurately represents real human emotion. I thought this film was really thought provoking and despite the somber mood it left me in I also left feeling that as humans we don't have to change the world, sometimes just giving someone a smile on a day when they're really struggling can make the world of difference to them. I can't recommend this film enough, especially if you like thought provoking drama but if you do go and see it perhaps tell your partner where you're going first.

This might not win many awards or get critical acclaim, but it will probably make you cry and certainly make you think about life.

A poignant film, which Broadbent shines as much as he ever has. From the people he meets along the way to the affect his decisions have on those he leaves behind. It's a beautiful story of a simple act that one man made to try to bring some meaning and importance to a life that was just originate but full of regret.

A very good way to spend a few hours, especially if you have someone in your life who is struggling with an illness. There's probably a lot more you could do for them.