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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a bit of a wordy title, but such is what happens with novels.
The titular character, portrayed by Jim Broadbent (The Sea Beast), is a bit of a shut-in, and has never gone anywhere, but then neither has his wife, Maureen (Penelope Wilton – The BFG). They just seem to exist in their stage of retirement.
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!”
However, he struggles to write a reply that won’t seem trite, walks to the post office to send it off… and keeps walking, from South Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed. Google tells me that’s 455.3 miles, while the film states it’s “almost 500 miles”, but at least we’re spared THAT track from The Proclaimers.
Alas, for Harold, he underestimates the told it’ll take on his 70+ year-old body, and for anyone who’s even attempted to do 10,000 steps on a daily basis, you’ll soon begin to realise a fraction of what he can expect.
However, while he has a phone, he’s left it behind… although it’s only an old Nokia and so doesn’t have GPS, anyway. But then, despite how never having really walked anywhere, and with no way to tell where he’s going, he has a great sense of direction. How would you know which road is taking you – literally – down the right path?
But it’s not just about Mr Broadbent, but also Ms Wilton, who starts to feel like she’s been abandoned, as well as getting the impression he’s living the life she wishes she’d led, and there’s wonderful performances from both of them.
It’s all about believing you can make a difference in life, along with the people he meets on the way, so if you like people-watching, it’s a film for you, and my favourite was the man he chats to in the cafe. You’ll find out why when you see it.
Adding in some flashback scenes, you learn a lot about Harold’s life, such as his strained relationship with his son, and how he realises he’s spent his life doing not very much at all, but now he’s doing something surprisingly brilliant.
This may sound cliched, but The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is both uplifting and touching. 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.3 on the opening Saturday, and wanted to make the most of the sunshine, rather than spend another day in a darkened room.
And then, at the start of week 3, for which most performances were back in broken screen 7, the Friday had a sole showing in screen 8, which is their biggest non-premium screen, so it was worth the wait.
Overall, Harold’s plan is rather preposterous, but if you go with it, as a film, it’s a beautiful.
As an aside, I did recognise the singer who pops up from time to time as Sam Lee, a folk singer, who as well as having a brief cameo in this film, also was the aural half of the support act when I saw Suzanne Vega at the Buxton Opera House back in February. Their support was around 40 minutes long, and not something I would normally listen to, but it was in-keeping with the acoustic feel of the evening.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is in cinemas now, and is available to pre-order on DVD.
You can also buy the Paperback book, Hardback and Kindle.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 108 minutes
Release date: April 28th 2023
Studio: eOne UK
Format: 1.85:1
Cinema: Cineworld Didsbury
Rating: 9/10
Director: Hettie Macdonald
Producers: Juliet Dowling, Kevin Loader, Marilyn Milgrom
Screenplay: Rachel Joyce
Novel: Rachel Joyce
Music: Sam Lee
Cast:
Harold Fry: Jim Broadbent
Maureen Fry: Penelope Wilton
David Fry: Earl Cave
Queenie: Linda Bassett
Wilf: Daniel Frogson
Rex: Joseph Mydell
Garage Girl: Nina Singh
Kate: Naomi Wirthner
Rich the T-Shirt Pilgrim: Paul Thornley
Sister Philomena: Joy Richardson
Farmer’s Wife: Claire Rushbrook
Jim the Oncologist: Ian Porter
GP: Andrew Leung
Postman: Tigger Blaize
Dog Walker: Duggie Brown
Pizza Delivery Man: Marvin Brown
Young Harold: Adam Jackson-Smith
Young Maureen: Bethan Cullinane
Kind Man: Trevor Fox
Press Photographer: David Gennard
Martina: Monika Gossmann
Mobile Home Man: Howard Grace
Barista: Jessica Kaur
David Fry (age 10): Braxton Kolodny
Singer: Sam Lee
Dressing Gown Man: Brian Male
Woman with Shopping: Alyson Marks
Manageress: Georgia Nicholson
Waitress: Lucy Reynolds
Silver Haired Gentleman: Nick Sampson
Waiting Truck Driver: Bogdan Silaghi
Driver: Georgina Strawson
Superhero Girl: Leila Temirzhanova
Mick: Maanuv Thiara
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.