The unpredictable journey of Harold Fry: the review by Paolo Mereghetti

L‘UNPREDICTABLE JOURNEY OF HENRY FRY
Type: meditative-ecological comedy
Direction: Hettie MacDonald. With Jim Broadbent, Penelope Wilton, Linda Bassett, Earl Cave, Daniel Frogson, NAomi Wirthner, Claire Rishbrook

The letter from an old colleague announcing that she is dying pushes the retired Harold Fry to set outwithout thinking that he has to travel three hundred or more kilometers to reach her: a sudden decision, without even notifying his wife who remained at home, decided to walk the road that separates him from his friend, sure that he can give her a little hope .

And the film of Hettie MacDonald begins to follow this octogenarian, convinced that he can help his friend not to succumb to the disease.

A journey through the English countryside but also into the black holes of a life who had tried to hide, if not erase, the pain that had passed through her: on the one hand the film knows how to tell it as well as it could (also thanks to the extraordinary performance of Jim Broadbent) the complex naivety of a man who sets out on a journey like no one would ever have doneon the other he tells the reactions of his “abandoned” wife, of the people he meets, of a marginal society that reveals its true face.

A film seemingly made of nothing (a man who walks) but who knows how to touch hidden chords and who also manages to convey a bit of trust in human beings.

For those who feel the need for a modern fairy tale.

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