In the new movie, "Philomena," now at The Charles, Judi Dench plays a retired Irish nurse who, as an unwed teenager and shunned by her family, was forced by the nuns who took care of her through her pregnancy and delivery to give up her newly borne son for adoption by an American couple. She's thought of him every day since and now in her elder years decides, at the urging of a British journalist, to go to America to find him. The bathos this entails is lightened by her amazement at an American we take for granted - giant helpings of food, liquor in a refrigerator in a hotel room. Her journey takes her on a winding path toward the truth, which Ms. Dench can so vividly impart with only her eyes, in a face furrowed with wrinkles, like a plowed field. The journalist, played by Steve Coogan, is seeking his own place in the world but is there mostly as a foil for Philomena who nudges him when he falters. He's good enough, but the movie is all hers, like most in which she appears. The movie has gotten some flack by supporters of the Catholic Church because it paints a pretty dire picture of the nuns. They claim the records pertaining to the adoption were burned in a huge fire, but are nonetheless able to produce a document Philomena signed giving up her rights. In the end, the movie's all about courage and perseverance and forgiveness, and love. Not a bad combination, especially in this holiday season. Go see it.
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