Row F Seat 19 "Saving Mr Banks" rated PG 125 mins

"That's what we storytellers do. We restore order with imagination. We instil hope again and again and again"

   Redemption is a constant and resonant theme in popular Hollywood films [even those made possible by the BBC apparently]. "Saving Mr Banks" centres on the twenty year battle for Walt Disney seeking to make the film of the popular story of 'Mary Poppins' by author PL Travers [Emma Thompson}. The reality is Travers needs the money as she hasn't written anything new in some time.

   The film isn't a documentary and so concentrates on parts of the story that help us imagine redemption is possible. The Walt Disney [Tom Hanks] character is there in determination, problem solving, a trip to Disneyland and his insight that he hasn't yet cracked what makes Travers so resistant to allowing the film rights to be given. It isn't until Walt can confront and share the story of his own Father and his childhood delivering newspapers in a snowbound Missouri twice a day no matter what...

   Disney's own promise to his daughters to make their favourite story into a film sits alongside the flashbacks to Ginty's father [Travers Goff] struggling with alcoholism and her tightly held story of growing up with the broken promise that he would "never leave her." These vignettes set the context for the whole story as her imagination was encouraged by her childhood picture of her Father [Colin Farrell] and the way he fostered her vivid imagination.

   Emma Thompson and that Tom Hanks bloke play their characters with humour, warmth and just enough vulnerability. Paul Giamatti does brilliantly with the role of the limo driver Ralph [the only American Travers likes]. Colin Farrell is good as Travers Goff.

   You don't need to be a fan of Mary Poppins to find this film a tear filled experience but I do think growing up with 'The Wonderful World of Disney' 6.30-m on TV every Sunday night makes the story accessible and important for an audience in any country around the globe.

"You think Mary Poppins has come to save the children... oh, dear"

   Redemption... once flawed, making bad choices, unable to see past our own inadequacies, are we forever labelled or is redemption possible? What story or relationship and story shared in common opens the door to letting go or laying down our stories. In the case of PL Travers it's Walt Disney's shared common experience and a  a Father, who in the face of his troubles says, "let's go fly a kite" opening up possibility and a freedom from the past...

   The Film's credits include old b&w photos of the real characters and a great original tape deck recording of the writers production meetings Travers insisted be taped so they kept their promises.