Dear Frankie

Dear Frankie is a film that touches the heart.

Dear Frankie is a film that touches the heart in a tearful way. I was very surprised when I saw the film. The story is a very well written elegant piece of work that entails a very European storyline. Dear Frankie shows how much a mother will do to give her child hope and love.

Dear Frankie is about a mother Lizzie (Emily Mortimer) who is forced to raise her deaf son Frankie (Jack McElhone). They move around a lot from town to town with Lizzie's chain-smoking mother Nell (Mary Riggans), who at times Lizzie wishes they were without. Through out the beginning of the movie we are not really sure why Lizzie is constantly moving them all around, which we later find out as her character is developed.

The family comes to their newest town Glasgow, and Lizzie finds more than see had bargained for. We find that Frankie has been writing to his father that he has never met. Lizzie keeps telling Frankie that his father is sailing the world on the ship Accra . What we later discover is that Frankie's mother has been responding to the letters that Frankie has been sending to a P.O. box that she made to receive his letter. She finds that it is the only way to hear his words. It allows her to get in touch with her son and know more about him, he writes to his father more about himself then he lets his mother know. It becomes an interesting story as we find out that the letters don't only help Lizzie find out more about her son but as well it gives her a false security of having the support of another parent as she writes back to Frankie, which we see when she tells Frankie that he should listen to his mother.

Later in the movie the lie that Lizzie has kept so well runs into a dead end as Frankie learns that a ship called the Accra is going to be docking in Glasgow in the near future. In response Lizzie looks to hire a man to pretend to be Frankie's father for a day. She looks everywhere in the town and has trouble finding someone. As she is about to give up Lizzie's friend Marie finds her and tells her that a friend of hers will be in town for a short time. When the man arrives and learns of the lie that she is telling her son he despises Lizzie, but later through coming to know Frankie and reading all the letters that Frankie sent that his mother really loves him

The man is only known as the stranger through out the movie, except for Frankie who refers to him as Da - the pet name he gave his father. It becomes a very heart warming film as we watch the stranger and Frankie connect as father and son.

This film deserves a 4 ¨ö out of 5 stars for is warm feeling. I was very happy with how the director managed to build strong characters even though the story lacked so essentials. I would recommend this film for anyone and would recommend going twice because there are things that you miss the first time that make it more enjoyable.