movie seen: Philomena
May. 24th, 2014 05:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
calimacThis is the second movie I've seen about this quaint and sticky episode in Irish history. Like Dan Aykroyd co-starring with Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, Steve Coogan trods the boards with Judi Dench and doesn't make a fool of himself. His character does, but that's part of the story.
In a commentary, unusually included with the Redbox version, Coogan says that if he'd read the real Martin's book before optioning it, he might not have gone ahead with the optioning. I'll take that as a cue not to read the book, which means that the questions this movie filled me with will have to go unanswered, even if the answer is, "They made that up for the movie." Questions like:
1. How much did Anthony/Michael know/remember about his own background? Did he know his original name, or anything other than his place of origin and date of birth?
2. Why did he never talk about Ireland, if he was so devoted to the idea of his origin there?
3. Why was Pete so determined not to speak to Martin? Was it because Martin was a journalist? Even though he said he had Philomena with him? If so, why did he let Martin in with her? Was it because he believed Philomena had abandoned her son? If so, why did he let her in just on her statement that she was looking for him? He already knew that from Martin. And, if he had hated her for abandoning her son, why did he fight the family so hard to have Michael buried in Ireland?
4. Why does Philomena, who pumps Martin so hard for details of Anthony's personality and character when she learns he once met him - even though it's clear he remembers nothing from their brief meeting - not ask anybody else who knew him better for that kind of detail?
5. After meeting the sister, Mary, Philomena and Martin comment that she said nothing about her infancy in Ireland. But why didn't they ask her about what she remembered, if only as a target to measure Anthony's likely memories against?
6. What about Kathleen? Philomena's best friend from her convent days, Mary's mother? Is she dead, or out of touch? Why doesn't Philomena contact her, or bring her up in conversation with Mary?
7. If Philomena has had Anthony's photo framed on her nightstand for all these years, why did her grown daughter never notice it before?
8. How evil are the nuns, exactly? Does Sister Claire, beneath her polite exterior, share Sister Hildegarde's feelings of detestation for their charges? How do they reconcile inflicting eternal punishment by keeping mother and son apart with acting polite and welcoming to them? If both mother and son had visited looking for the other, even though the records were destroyed, how hard would it have been for them to connect the dots if they'd wanted to? (Ties back to question 1, how much did Michael/Anthony remember?) If the nuns told him that they couldn't find his mother, did that mean they couldn't track who she was, or was it that they did know who she was but claimed not to be able to track her? And if he had her name, why couldn't he find her on his own?
9. Why didn't Martin ask Sister Claire why there was a photo of Jane Russell on the wall? He finds out later, but if he'd learned it then, he would have known a lot more a lot faster.
10. How did Martin find out that Anthony = Michael, exactly? In the movie it just pops up on his computer screen from somebody. Why did he have to go to America to learn it, if he was doing this work via e-mail?
And a couple more general questions, not specific to the movie, but I've wondered these for a long time.
11. How does Sister Hildegarde reconcile her determination to punish sin with the love and forgiveness of Jesus? I know, I know, there have been two millennia of hate-filled people calling themselves Christians, but I still don't get it.
12. What is it with Martin being the kind of atheist who, considering religion a crutch, is so determined to kick it out from under people who obviously need it to function? I don't get that either. I've seen atheists compare this kind of ministry to AA - you wouldn't want an alcoholic to continue to rely on alcohol to function - but AA doesn't wean people from alcohol by viciously attacking their belief systems. And what do they replace alcohol with in AA? Religion! Maybe the atheists should encourage the religious to take up drinking.
In a commentary, unusually included with the Redbox version, Coogan says that if he'd read the real Martin's book before optioning it, he might not have gone ahead with the optioning. I'll take that as a cue not to read the book, which means that the questions this movie filled me with will have to go unanswered, even if the answer is, "They made that up for the movie." Questions like:
1. How much did Anthony/Michael know/remember about his own background? Did he know his original name, or anything other than his place of origin and date of birth?
2. Why did he never talk about Ireland, if he was so devoted to the idea of his origin there?
3. Why was Pete so determined not to speak to Martin? Was it because Martin was a journalist? Even though he said he had Philomena with him? If so, why did he let Martin in with her? Was it because he believed Philomena had abandoned her son? If so, why did he let her in just on her statement that she was looking for him? He already knew that from Martin. And, if he had hated her for abandoning her son, why did he fight the family so hard to have Michael buried in Ireland?
4. Why does Philomena, who pumps Martin so hard for details of Anthony's personality and character when she learns he once met him - even though it's clear he remembers nothing from their brief meeting - not ask anybody else who knew him better for that kind of detail?
5. After meeting the sister, Mary, Philomena and Martin comment that she said nothing about her infancy in Ireland. But why didn't they ask her about what she remembered, if only as a target to measure Anthony's likely memories against?
6. What about Kathleen? Philomena's best friend from her convent days, Mary's mother? Is she dead, or out of touch? Why doesn't Philomena contact her, or bring her up in conversation with Mary?
7. If Philomena has had Anthony's photo framed on her nightstand for all these years, why did her grown daughter never notice it before?
8. How evil are the nuns, exactly? Does Sister Claire, beneath her polite exterior, share Sister Hildegarde's feelings of detestation for their charges? How do they reconcile inflicting eternal punishment by keeping mother and son apart with acting polite and welcoming to them? If both mother and son had visited looking for the other, even though the records were destroyed, how hard would it have been for them to connect the dots if they'd wanted to? (Ties back to question 1, how much did Michael/Anthony remember?) If the nuns told him that they couldn't find his mother, did that mean they couldn't track who she was, or was it that they did know who she was but claimed not to be able to track her? And if he had her name, why couldn't he find her on his own?
9. Why didn't Martin ask Sister Claire why there was a photo of Jane Russell on the wall? He finds out later, but if he'd learned it then, he would have known a lot more a lot faster.
10. How did Martin find out that Anthony = Michael, exactly? In the movie it just pops up on his computer screen from somebody. Why did he have to go to America to learn it, if he was doing this work via e-mail?
And a couple more general questions, not specific to the movie, but I've wondered these for a long time.
11. How does Sister Hildegarde reconcile her determination to punish sin with the love and forgiveness of Jesus? I know, I know, there have been two millennia of hate-filled people calling themselves Christians, but I still don't get it.
12. What is it with Martin being the kind of atheist who, considering religion a crutch, is so determined to kick it out from under people who obviously need it to function? I don't get that either. I've seen atheists compare this kind of ministry to AA - you wouldn't want an alcoholic to continue to rely on alcohol to function - but AA doesn't wean people from alcohol by viciously attacking their belief systems. And what do they replace alcohol with in AA? Religion! Maybe the atheists should encourage the religious to take up drinking.
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no subject
Date: 2014-05-24 05:10 pm (UTC)"Steve Coogan
trodstreads the boards"walk : walked
: :
tread : trod
"He walkeds" ? No. Similarly, no "He trods".
Respectfully submitted,
Dr. Whom: Consulting Linguist, Grammarian, Orthoëpist, and Philological Busybody
no subject
Date: 2014-06-18 12:36 am (UTC)He got the newspaper clipping from immigration or adoption services or whatever its source was, which had a photo of Anthony and a caption with his Anthony's new name. He then googled the new name with Anthony's date of birth to see what came up.