The Reel Review
This is the incredible true story of Philomena Lee, one of thousands of unwed teenage mothers in 1950s Ireland whose young children were taken from them by the Catholic Church and sold to rich Catholics in America. Judi Dench is phenomenal as the unintentionally funny and sweet-natured Philomena, whose futile, decades-long search for her son gets a big boost when former BBC journalist Martin Sixsmith gets involved. What begins as a routine identity search soon yields astounding discoveries and unfathomable heartbreak. Bring your hankies – there won’t be a dry eye in the theater. Philomena is, you might say, one in a million.