Brooklyn: A Fable About Emigration Told from the Heart

by Jessica Monk

I will begin this review with a warning, an emotional censor’s rating if you like. If you’re one of those people whose tears flow after watching a cat video, you had best avoid this movie. Focusing on a sweet and believable character who is pulled apart by forces beyond her control, the movie adaption of Colm Tóibín’s Brooklyn engages our emotions by engaging our sympathy for the central character right from the start.

Saoirse Ronan’s agreeable face fills up the screen for most of this movie. An Irish actress finally playing a quintessentially Irish girl, she brings digni...