Heading to Brooklyn

Go to Brooklyn.

The movie, that is.  It's a wonderful movie.

Now, I'll say it is nothing like Star Wars, the typical buddy movie, or the latest shoot-out.

Brooklyn is a quiet movie which explores yearning for freedom and a new life while grieving the life left behind.

It tells the story of a young Irish woman who is leaving her mother and sister behind in Ireland while she seeks a better life.

The scene where Ellis Lacey stands along the rail of the ship somberly watching her mom and sister looking up at her to say good-bye is a poignant one.

It's a relatable moment.

Maybe you dropped off a child at college, camp, or kindergarten and felt tears welling and heart beating as you said good-bye.

The young lass finds her way to Brooklyn, New York which is home to many people from Ireland during the 1950s.  Her trip was assisted by the Catholic Church and a fatherly priest.  She lives in a boardinghouse with a house mother and five temporary "sisters."  She has a job in a fancy department store.

Written on her face is the loneliness and fear of trying to make it in a new and strange place.  The priest gives her help and advice.  She takes a night class and begins to find her place in her new world.

The movie unfolds from there with a twist or two along the way as we follow Ellis - played extraordinarily well by Saoirse Ronan - down the road of her life complete with detours.

You'll enjoy the trip, all the way to Brooklyn.

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