Movie: Brooklyn (8/10)

I thought I’d read the book but it quickly became apparent even when I read the synopsis that I haven’t. I have read so many about emigrating to America. One of my favourite reads of all time, Edward Rutherfurd’s New York includes a fair bit of that story line too. Of course I know a little about the history of Irish moving to America (because it’s much talked about) and also the English (because I learnt about it on a trip to New England).What is in effect a simple tale about a young lady being sent to America to live a better life than the family she is leaving behind, her mother and sister, finds me as an emotional wreck. I’ve never cried so much during a film. Anyone (who had a heart) would have been tearful at certain points but what did it for me was the (Irish) mothers saying the sort of things my late mum would have. Her birthday would have been the day before I saw this so she was at the forefront of my thoughts.We can all identify with a young girl becoming a woman but Eilis does it through the pain of severe homesickness. Two of the stars of the film are the small rural Irish town and post-war New York filling the world of hope for the future. That’s one giant leap for a youngster, from small town Ireland to living in a boarding house with strangers and working in an upmarket department store,  and we are easily swept along for the ride.

Home sickness is like most sicknesses, it will pass.

 Ably supported by Julie Walters, who plays the brilliantly wise Irish landlady for the girls who arrive in Brooklyn and Jim Broadbent, the kindly priest who arranges the emigration and looks after Eilis. Brooklyn is a delight (the film rather than the place).8/10Smile factor 7/10