Based on the 2012 bestseller of the same name, recently retired, Harold Fry is well into his 60s and content to fade quietly into the background of life. Harold’s life with his wife Maureen is uneventful and their marriage frozen, due to an unspeakable conflict relating to the absence of their son, until one day, Harold learns his old friend Queenie is dying. He sets off to the post office to send her a letter and decides to keep walking: all the way to her hospice, 450 miles away. 

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The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry begins as you’d expect this kind of a film, aimed more at an older audience, to begin. It’s a gentle, non offensive kinda story, which rolls along with some cute and cosy observations of life and living it well found in the people that Harold meets on his quest.

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But it's in the third and final act where The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry finds its unique and emotionally devastating voice. Throughout the film we are given hints as to what truly lies behind Harold’s seemingly bizarre reason for trekking all the way on foot to visit a dying acquaintance. But its in the final act where we discover the heartbreaking and surprising truth behind it all. 

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It also doesn’t take the easy or expected narrative road here though. It takes one that is more simple which results in its message of forgiveness of self, grief, and guilt staying with you long after the credits have rolled. 

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The cast, as you’d expect of this kind of UK film, is faultless. Jim Broadbent’s Harold is not only a likeable lead, but is one filled to the brim with all the complexity of a man in his position. Penelope Wilton is more than Broadbent’s equal and brings a perfect balance to Harold’s eccentric wanderings. 

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With superb performances from leads Jim Broadbent and Penelope Wilton, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry is a beautiful film; an ode to grief and forgiveness.