We went to the 4 pm showing of Philomena this afternoon. The theater was full of Q-Tips just like us. Q-Tips are old people with gray or white hair…get it? Yeah…

Steve Coogan, the British comedian, played it straight in this movie from a book about a woman searching for her son, sold by Irish Catholic nuns to a family in America in the 1950’s. Judi Dench was the mother, pregnant via a casual experience at a fair, family turned her over to the nuns and … well, you know how it goes. She finds the son, and I won’t spoil how the plot turns out if you are inclined to go see it.

Steve and Judi have reasonably good chemistry, and of course the camera loves every wrinkle on this actress’ fabulous face. Recall Ms. Dench won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her 15 minutes on the screen as QE the First in Shakespeare in Love. Having been rejected for what should have won her the Best Actress Oscar for Mrs. Brown, the Academy made amends by the consolation prize the following year. She’s been acting professionally for 54 years, starting out as the French Princess Katherine in Hank Cinq in 1960. Along the way she’s appeared in British comedy series and, of course, as M in a slew of Bond flicks. Her voice is even in a Bond video game~! That’s a hard working woman.

Recall Steve Coogan was the poor literally beheaded director in Tropic Thunder, the first time I recall seeing him perform. Very over the top, albeit short-lived part. In this film, he’s a very low-key Martin Sixsmith, the real guy that wrote the book from which Philomena was adapted. I saw Coogan talking with Charlie Rose about the challenge from normally doing broad comedy to performing as a cynical, lapsed Catholic journalist and former spin meister for the Labor government. He did a good job.

I won’t spoil the plot, but the mid-80’s and early 90’s Republican administrations fit into the story, and it reminded me of how much things have changed since then. The AIDS epidemic was raging, and Republicans refused to fund research because they saw the disease as punishment for sin on the part of gay men. And, of course, the unwed mother in Ireland was parted from her child as a function of the ‘wages of sin’ punishment meted out by the Catholic church and the hard-core Magdaline sisters. Of course the fact that Americans paid a thousand pounds for the child never figured into that equation. Liz Taylor and other celebrities filled in to raise money for AIDs research that led to what will soon be a curable disease. The Catholic Church has been de-frocked as a religious institution and branded a criminal enterprise because of its cover up of child molestation by priests. So the wages of sin? The God I know has an interesting way of balancing the books, but there is a lot of misery generated by these institutions along the way to reaching this fair equilibrium. Having said that, this film takes a heart breaking experience and sheds light on profane injustice. That is part of the big plan, I believe. Shining the light into dark corners like this is what leads to necessary change, and confirms our belief that everyone gets their just desserts in the end. Check it out.