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radioSimon Dillon reviews this utterly compelling true story
Great performances from Judi Dench and Steve Coogan form the centre of this utterly compelling true story, director Steven Frears' best film since The Queen.
Based on Martin Sixsmith's book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee, Dench plays Philomena, a woman who in her teenage years had a child out of wedlock. She was sent to one of Ireland's notorious Magdalene laundries - little more than Victorian workhouses run by nuns for girls deemed morally "shamed" by their Catholic families. After delivering and caring for her baby boy for two years, he was taken from Philomena by force and sold to an American couple who wanted to adopt.
Fifty years later, Philomena wishes to track down the son she never knew. Enter recently unemployed journalist Martin Sixsmith (Coogan) who investigates her story, at first with some reluctance. The two travel to America and form an unlikely friendship amid their quest. Their investigations take them to Washington DC and the legal advisors of the White House. Complications build from there, and I don't want to say too much more for the sake of those unfamiliar with the true events.
What the Catholic Church allowed to occur in the brutal and extremely corrupt Magdalene laundries deserves unambiguous condemnation in the strongest possible terms. The subject was dealt with directly in Peter Mullan's powerful The Magdalene Sisters, but in Philomena the laundries loom in the background like an ominous shadow. Philomena herself is astonishingly quick to point out that not all the nuns were bad, and determinedly sees the good in the Catholic Church - even though the audience is more likely to sympathise with Sixsmith's views on their decidedly un-Christlike dealings. Consequently the film has an extremely effective undercurrent of seething anger that acts as a counterpoint to the odd couple bond that develops between Philomena and Sixsmith.
Ultimately Philomena is a deeply moving journey that comes highly recommended as far as I'm concerned, despite the fact that I know some Christians will take issue with some of the content contained herein. But they shouldn't. For example, themes of homosexuality crop up, but that is simply an accurate reflection of factual events and a strictly non-judgemental stance is taken - rightly in my view. Elsewhere, Philomena repeatedly challenges Sixsmith's views on God, often to highly amusing effect, and most tellingly in the finale. Speaking of which, Christians of all creeds (including Catholics) ought to cheer how powerfully the theme of forgiveness plays out in this sequence, even when no remorse is expressed by a character whose actions were utterly reprehensible.
On a very personal note, it's worth adding that Philomena forces me to
once again grapple with a nagging question I have always struggled
with: How is it that the Jesus Christ I know and love can be so
grossly misrepresented by those who claim to serve him? There is true
Christianity on display in Philomena from Philomena herself, but not
from the Catholic Church. 
Simon Dillon was born the year Steven Spielberg made moviegoers terrified of sharks He loves books and films, writing the former and reviewing the latter. His novels include Peaceful Quiet Lives, Children of the Folded Valley, Spectre of Springwell Forest, and Uncle Flynn. Simon is a fully committed Christian, but doesn’t like to “identify” with any particular denomination. He doesn’t do hugs, and generally prefers moody, sombre Gregorian chants to bouncier Christian music (with a few exceptions). In his reviews, he isn’t interested in counting f-words and miniskirts, but he attempts to unpack the message of the film, with faith issues in mind.
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The main reason, I think, that people are quick to judge very harshly the hypocrisy of bad Catholics, is because, deep down, they wish to discredit and reject Catholicism, which claims to teach what Christ would teach today, including the hard teachings of chastity as a virtue against promiscuity, homosexual behaviour, marital infidelity, divorce, contraception and abortion. The problem is not Catholicism, but bad Catholics, and, more generally - sin.
Mark, I agree with some of what you say, but much as I am reluctant to act as a self-appointed theology policeman, here are just two problems I have with what Catholicism teaches:
1) At what point in the Bible is Christ anti-contraception? There is not a single reference to this. Therefore it is up to individual Christians, in their own personal relationship with God, to decide what they think.
2) When it comes to who should be church leaders, the New Testament teaches the exact opposite of what the Catholic church teaches - it says (along with some other very strict criteria) that they should be married (1 Timothy Chapter 5 verse 22-23).
That's before I even get into the weightier matters of how the Catholic church teaches that Mary is divine. Then there's the whole Pergatory business (essentially doing away with all concept of a loving God in the process). I once challenged a Catholic friend of mine to read the Bible and find a single mention of Pergatory. There isn't one!
There are many good Catholics in the world. I have Catholic friends and relatives. Furthermore, I admire many of the most famous Catholics, including Mother Teresa and JRR Tolkien. But when it comes to what the Catholic church actually teaches, I have more than a few problems.
All of this is outside of the appalling abuses that took place in the Magdalene Laundries (incidentally, I find it incredibly ironic that they were named after the woman on whom Christ had so much mercy). Yes - there are many other bad things that have gone on in other Christian denominations, but Philomena (the film) rightly and properly condemns this in the strongest possible way.
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