Saving Mister Banks

This was dramatically heavier than I would have guessed based on the ad campaign. Because it’s Disney, it’s hard to know how whitewashed the story is. According to the movie, the author of “Mary Poppins” had a very rough childhood during which a couple of unimaginably traumatic incidents happened. Emotionally, these moments make the lows lower, and therefore, the highs higher. Again, it’s hard to know how much of this is real. But Emma Thompson’s depiction of “P.L. Travers,” aka Helen Goff, with her obsessive compulsive tendencies and rigid, unhappy demeanor, is skilled. When she finally falls under the spell of Disney’s musical it’s especially touching. Whether it happened or not, to see this grouchy, lonely woman feel carefree for just a moment, akin to Jane and Michael Banks’ father flying a kite for the first time, one delights in the possibilities. Sometimes truth is greater than fiction, but the fiction feels better.