Philomena invokes Madiba
I went to see Philomena yesterday and I’m still haunted by Judi Dench’s performance. Or should I say Stephen Frears’ directorship. If you’ve never seen Frears’ The Queen, I suggest you rent it now because it was a movie that was so very English in its subtlety and so spot on powerful in its performance. The same with Philomena.
Recently, people have been posting quotes by Nelson Mandela and how he forgave his captors and his oppressors and how he lived the Revolution he began through integrity. Madiba is how he’s known in his homeland. Madiba is a loving name for a larger than life man.
And Philomena embodies Madiba’s philosophy – she is a sweet, kind older woman who was dealt a bad hand at one point in her life, who through an arc, not readily apparent till the end, becomes the hero of her own story.
In an age when heroes are about how aggressive or assertive you can be, Philomena is a jewel and a cautionary tale against anger and vengeance. She is Jesus Christ. She is Madiba. She is powerful in her understated kindness and forgiveness (even of herself).
She’s a woman with whom I’d like to sit down to tea and how she chooses to live her life is humbling.