THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMAGE OF HAROLD FRY – Review by Jennifer Green
The spiritual and life lessons at this film’s heart are not especially nuanced, but The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry – director Hettie Macdonald’s (Normal People) second feature, based on Rachel Joyce’s script from her own novel – is still a rewarding watch. Keep the Kleenex handy.
Veteran actors Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton play aging British couple Harold and Maureen Fry, who have very little left to say to each other and even less to do each day. When Harold receives a note in the mail from an old colleague, Queenie, saying goodbye since she has been moved to hospice, something inside him shifts.
Next thing we know, Harold is embarking on an unplanned walk across the British countryside to Queenie’s bedside, some 500 miles away. He’s convinced he might save her life with this walk. When a journalist hears about his story, Harold becomes front-page news and his determination inspires others, who begin following him like acolytes.
Harold takes on an increasingly monastic perspective, shedding belongings and living off the land. Even while he is on a fool’s errand to extend the life of a dying woman, he is also learning his own lessons of letting go – of the past, of unhelpful emotions, and of things he cannot control.
He also starts recalling past events, notably the downward spiral and eventual loss of his and Maureen’s son. It becomes clear that the journey is more about himself and the impact of that devastating loss than it is about Queenie.
The thematic significance of the film is right in the name – Harold is on a pilgrimage, spiritual journeys that can lead to personal transformation. Unsure what has compelled him, Harold seems to inexplicably feel the trip is something he needs to do. He asks for Queenie to have faith in him and stay alive until he gets to her, and in turn he finds faith in himself.
Others find faith in him as well. He becomes a role model and leader for people in need of inspiration and meaning. This is where Broadbent really shines. His placid gaze and accepting demeanor make it believable that others would open up to him so quickly or follow him on his path, holding him up as a hero if not a spiritual guide.
Harold’s transformation is mirrored, to an extent, by his wife’s reactions back home. The film does a fine job editing these together so that scenes respond to each other even while each character follows his or her own path. Their relationship at the start is marked by desperate indifference. “I hardly noticed you’d gone,” she grumps on the phone to him, immediately regretting it. “It would be easier if he were dead,” she admits to a neighbor.
With minimal dialogue, Wilton embodies Maureen’s transformation from shocked to angry to jealous to resigned, and finally to inspired. In contrast to Harold’s spiritual journey of letting go, she represents the human ego’s need for comfort, control and validation. But she, too, learns from Harold’s journey and ultimately plays a key role in its completion.
Broadbent and Wilton lift up what could have been an overly trite message movie. They’re not aided by manipulative high-emotion music or hokey flashbacks. But none of this matters by the end of the movie. When Maureen tears down her home’s gauzy white curtains to let the sunlight in, or when Harold utters “who knew?” as he glances out across the vast rolling hills of the countryside he’d never seen or perhaps noticed before, it’s symbolic of their transformation and a new horizon of hope.
Maybe what the world needs is “a little less sense and a bit more faith,” one character suggests. Harold Fry is here to show us the way.
