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The abuses of the Church through the Magdalene Sisters is in the background of this exciting film that features Judy Dench as a mother searching for the son that was taken from here 50 years previously.

She is paired with Steve Coogan, a sacked journalist after a human interest story. They made a strange pair as they journeyed to America to find her son.

Prejudice and misunderstandings prevented the two from being reunited, but the story was fascinating and surprising.

I even enjoyed seeing Anna Maxwell Martin from Bletchley Circle. What a thrill.

In my effort to see as many films of last years as I can, I come across a typical revenge film that is indicative of a Euripides tragedy. Reason giving was to passion as the protagonist attempts to avenge the death of his daughter.

At the end, one thinks of Karma at work. The sins of the past being balanced in the future.

But is is those sins that cause me to think throughout this movie. I see an Irish Catholic boy in Paul (Nicolas Cage) who presumably confessed his sins and received absolution, and who then went on to perform great works to put that sinful life behind him.

But, I also see the stain of those sins remaining in his heart and soul. They never truly go away, and he reverts to his previous character and commits even greater sins as his passions consume him.

Passion overcomes reason and causes Paul to reject those who love him, and to hurt his friends as well as his enemies.

The sins of the father are visited upon the son, or in this case upon the daughter, played by Aubrey Peeples of Lake Mary, Florida, and a famed Sharknado actor.