Die unwahrscheinliche Pilgerreise des Harold Fry

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 cinematography of this film is beautiful - a story full of fleeting moments and what-ifs, and the impact that small actions can have on the people we come across. A life-affirming and thought-provoking movie that will make you want to be a better person. Gently heartfelt acting from a top-flight cast.

If you're looking for dramatic plot lines and fireworks, this movie is not for you. However, if you want to enjoy a couple of hours with some glimpses of English scenery and weather - and the repressed emotions so typical of the English temperament - while reviewing your personal relationships, this is a wonderful piece of unassuming filmmaking.

Harold Fry (Jim Broadbent) is getting on in life. He doesn't feel it though, drifting through it as he has. Until one day he receives an unexpected letter. Setting off to the postbox with his reply, Harold finds himself reluctant to take the easy option, a choice that rewards him with a series of life lessons that will warm your heart... or roll your eyes depending on your level of cynicism. It's called The Unlikely Pilgrimage of... and it certainly is. Harold setting out to walk from his home in Devon to see his dying friend Queenie (Linda Bassett), who lives in Berwick-upon-Tweed. Bonkers right? His wife Maureen (Penelope Wilton) certainly thinks so. He's not exactly prepared and there's no plan, but he learns as he goes. As do we. It's got an air of fantasy, but remains oddly anchored through his somewhat predicable rather British adventures, although it does valiantly attempt to throw the odd curveball. Essentially it's one big visual metaphor as we learn that Harold hasn't always been in touch with his feelings or those of others, but for all its blunt plot points, it is quaintly inspirational. It's nicely shot too and achieves the feeling of Harold's journey across the country, showing England off in a rather beautiful light. Broadbent is brilliant. Simple delivery, understated, that warmth in his face filling the screen. The supporting cast too, from a brief cameo with Claire Rushbrook, all too brief glimpses of Earl Cave as Harold's remembered son and his somewhat adopted one Daniel Frogson, who as Wilf is the first of many to tag along. It's as much about Harold though, as it is about Maureen left at home. Their relationship, what it's been missing. What they need as people, maybe what we all need. Despite all this loftiness, it's not a great film, but regardless I really enjoyed it. Understanding what drives Harold, there's more to this than what's put on the screen.

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.

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.