Think of the typical protagonist of a road movie and you will probably imagine someone young, rebellious and behind the wheel of a car, doubtlessly crossing the wide-open spaces of the United States. That description certainly doesn’t fit Jim Broadbent in The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, an entertaining British comedy-drama based on actress turned author Rachel Joyce’s bestselling, Booker-shortlisted debut novel of the same name from 2012.
Far from putting the pedal to the metal, Broadbent’s unassuming elderly gent goes to post a letter and ends up walking 600-odd miles across England from South Devon to Berwick-upon-Tweed. Yet, although he is on foot rather than in a car, his journey is no less epic, in its own way, than the trips taken by the road-movie genre’s customary leads. And, like them, he too is on a path of self-discovery and change.
