But if I were to give this a second viewing, I'd only watch the scenes with Harold and Maureen interacting with each other, with one notable exception: when Harold asks for a glass of water in a café. He receives a letter from an old work colleague telling him she is dying in a hospice in Berwick upon Tweed. If you have faith you can do anything’ [4] she replies, but quickly disclaims any religious reference. It’s an act of faith: he believes that by plodding through the B-roads of rural Britain he can save her life. Before to long, he receives a letter from old colleague Queenie, who’s in a hospice and writing to everyone to ‘say goodbye’, and it did amuse me that when he begins to read it, he exclaimed as I like to do: “Good Lord!

Whilst stopping at a pub, a man asks to take a photograph of him to "remember him", and soon Harold's face is on the front page of many newspapers. 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.As Harold's fame increases, many other people from all walks of life accompany him as his "pilgrims". The trailer makes this look like one of those films about quirky old Brits up to something oddball which turns out to be life-affirming, uplifting, inspiring or the like. 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. It seems that in his self obsessed previous existence, consumed with guilt over his son's suicide, he went on a binge and organised a one man smash up in the brewery where he was employed, in the middle of the night. Which Maureen (Wilton), wife of Harold for at least a few decades, rightfully takes quite personally.

He stops in a café that does not allow begging and asks for a glass of water, the staff assume he is homeless and ask him to leave, but he has an emotional breakdown. This might not win many awards or get critical acclaim, but it will probably make you cry and certainly make you think about life.Along the way, he has flashbacks of his former employment as a brewery representative, and about his son David (Earl Cave, son of singer Nick Cave) who he became estranged to. The Love Song of Queenie Hennessy’, five 15-minute readings on Radio 4 in October 2014, and repeated March 2016, is a sequence of letters and reminiscences from Queenie. 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. Despite its light narrative, it manages to deliver a paradoxical climax that is both beautiful and deeply moving. A story of rediscovery and transformation, HAROLD FRY is an uplifting reminder that you’re never too old to take a chance, and that kindness is less rare than you think.

The only one I liked was the doctor who's a cleaner, you know because Britain doesn't treat people like scum. The unlikely pilgrimage of Harold Fry is one of those small British films that we maybe get once or twice a year that are mainly targeted towards the older generation. A simple, joyful story, wonderful actors, clever director, marvellous scenery and very little, if any, CGI. Harold suffers severe foot pain and sores from his continued walking, which he treats himself with plasters.He however is able to say things to Maureen that were previously unspoken, about memories of David, of their earlier life, his own mother. He collapses during his journey and is taken in by Slovakian woman Martina (Monika Gossman), a doctor who helps him with his sore feet and gives him footwear and a sleeping bag to help him on his way. It’s not exactly a movie you’d go to see for a family night out, and I largely avoided it in the first two weeks because Cineworld kept sticking it in their broken screen 7 (week 2 did have some performances in the reasonable screen 11), but I’d been to see Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. It is a sweet story of a man who believes that his friend will stay alive if he keeps going, there is an element of Monty Python's Life of Brian as he picks up followers along the way, and it reminded me of the running segment of Forrest Gump, I will admit it dipped in places, but overall it is an enjoyable drama. So how does he, a man who, according to his wife, normally only walks to the car, carry on with those same feet , in those same shoes, for another two months (with his, what looks like Clark's, shoes still intact at the end)?