Brooklyn (2015) – Review

That the world is constantly changes will surprise no one, but sometimes I wonder how we would treat each other if we didn’t have the constant distractions of Twitter, Facebook and various other apps. The latest news, from anywhere in the world, we are able to read within minutes from it happening and kind messages we read, but usually forget within a couple of minutes. The “romance” of communication seems to have disappeared. No longer have to sit next to a phone waiting for a call until someone calls you, no longer making appointments somewhere and waiting for them to show or taking pictures during a holiday and waiting until they are developed when you get home. These are moments I sometimes miss and Brooklyn is a movie which only made that feeling stronger.

Eilis (Saoirse Ronan) is a young lady who lives in Ireland during the fifties. She doesn’t seem to be able to get a job. She works only once a week in a small store which isn’t very pleasant and doesn’t see any other choice to leave her mother and sister behind and move to America. She hopes she will be able to find a job there and slowly start a new life. She seems to be able to do so, but because of some events she is forced to go back to Ireland and once there has to make a very important and difficult decision.

 Brooklyn has received three Oscar nominations and although it is a movie worth watching, I don’t see it getting any of the awards. Ronan is strong in her performance, showing the necessary emotions and growth of the character, but the story itself is not that special. I mainly enjoyed the era this movie is set, in which long letters were written and going out to party was something completely different. Although I never experienced it myself, Brooklyn managed to give me the feeling what that must have been like.