When did nuns become the enemy? Now, look, I attended Catholic school for nine years, so I don’t have a problem with this, per se. And I would love to see a serious study of the role of the nun throughout motion picture history from hardened bosses in The Song of Bernadette to fighting Nazis in The Sound of Music, then up to well-meaning bully in The Blues Brothers to sadistic criminals in The Magdalene Sisters. As I say, I don’t have a problem with this on its face. I suppose what bothers me is that the Pope and priests are still generally regarded as forces of good in cinema. It’s as if we all accepted and internalized the abuses of the Catholic church come to light in the past decade — and we then decided our art needed to reflect our new feelings of mistrust (well … new to some), but did we take it out on the male representatives of that mistrust? Oh, no. The nuns get it, because, you know, all those stories about little boys being sexually abused by nuns. Sexism trumps religious bigotry every time.
Got another take on this? I’m no expert; please share.
I suppose it’s not fair to call all nuns the enemy in Philomena, but girl, the film ain’t kind to the group. Title character Philomena (Judi Dench, old; Sophie Kennedy Clark, young) has awesome 1950s carnival sex somewhere in between the bearded lady and the candy apple concession. Her parents disown the pregnant teen and she retreats to the only place she can, a nunnery. In return for aid in birth and one hour per day visiting 
rights, Philomena trades four years of indentured servitude. And the nuns are dicks about it. The day her toddler is given for adoption, Philomena isn’t even allowed a goodbye. The nunnery has become a prison and Sister Hildegarde (Barbara Jefford, old; Kate Fleetwood, young), the warden.
Enter journalist Martin Sixsmith (Steve Coogan) five decades later. Once a hot political hob-nobber, Martin is now unemployed and takes up the special interest story of helping old Philomena find her lost child. The nuns are still dicks. Ah, memories. Yes, even fifty years later, the nuns are obstructionist jerks, unapologetic and deliberately deceptive.
By contrast, nobody-would-blame-her-were-she-a-bitter-old-crone Philomena has grown to be gracious, forgiving and generously accepting of the life she’s been dealt. I suppose this is the true power of the mini-mystery — that from such rotten roots spawned the kind of character the Catholic church worldwide would be proud to call its own. It does happen and it’s good to remember, especially in an age where a significant number of misguided souls still believe homosexuality as communicable.
The other strength of this movie is the buddy pic aspect. Martin is something of an elitist and his fate has made him short-tempered and intolerant. Philomena is a simpleton — the kind of person who gladly opts for hotel-room viewing Big Momma’s House ahead of the Lincoln Memorial. He needs her to help get his life back on track; she needs him to help find her son and make sense of what happened. It’s a nice symbiosis and a pleasant, if unremarkable, film.
The story of Martin and -omena, Phil
In search of personal truth, if you will
The findings are there
Accept, if you dare
It’s to swallow a most bitter pill
Rated PG-13, 98 Minutes
D: Stephen Frears
W: Steve Coogan, Jeff Pope
Genre: Fractured Fairy Tale
Type of person most likely to enjoy this film: Regretful baby donors
Type of person least likely to enjoy this film: Nuns
