Saint Ralph

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source: Saint Ralph

SAINT RALPH is a little jewel of a film. Stories about kids who gain faith through acts of courage are usually tainted with saccharine scripts, but with the wise use of presenting a well-rounded, multidimensional character as the hero of this story, writer/director Michael McGowan succeeds in a touching tale that is so based on real behavioral patterns of young teens that it becomes simply an inspiring and entertaining movie. Ralph (Adam Butcher) is 14, his father died a war hero, and his mother is hospitalized for a terminal illness. Ralph is in Catholic School run by the stern disciplinarian Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent) who, understanding that Ralph has a free spirit and a propensity for getting into trouble, spies on him. Ralph is repeatedly 'punished' for his transgressions, but when he inadvertently has a hilarious swimming pool/voyeuristic experience, he is threatened with expulsion unless he joins the school's Cross Country team run by the kindly Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott). Ralph's 'naughty nature' is balanced by his complete devotion to his hospitalized mother (Shauna MacDonald) whom he visits daily: she is all he has. His mother's nurse (Jennifer Tilly) is compassionate and shares with Ralph that as his mother slips into coma that the only thing that will save her is a miracle. Simultaneously Ralph's coach (Father Hibbert) jests that the only way any of the team would win the Boston Marathon would be a miracle. The dots connect; Ralph trains, and through faith and commitment finds himself crossing the finish line of the Marathon! The manner in which McGowan ends the story is part of what makes this film unique. Just as he allows Ralph to be a testy kid who continues to have hilarious episodes right up to the end of the story, he doesn't let the film end in bathos. He makes every action and deed that occur in Ralph's journey combine to drive toward the final meaning. So here is a gentle comedy with a heart, one that is touching while it is a little racy, full of faith while it tests rationality. The cast is superb and seem committed under McGowan's wise direction to find just the right level of realism, making us root strongly for a kid with impossible challenges. Recommended. Grady Harp

It would be hard to dislike this sentimental story of young Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher), a fourteen year old attending a Roman Catholic boys' school in Ontario in 1954. Ralph's mother is suffering from an unspecified illness in a local hospital and is in what appears to be a permanent coma. In fact she is so bad off that only a miracle could bring her back. Ralph takes this literally and believes that by effecting a personal miracle he can bring his mother out of her coma. One of the Fathers at the school remarks that it would be a miracle if Ralph were to win the Boston Marathon, and that is the miracle Ralph seizes on. This movie is one more installment in the canon of sports movies where one achieves a goal through persistence in overcoming many obstacles, and there are many obstacles to Ralph's achieving his dream, not the least of which is that he is somewhat of a wimp. For certain reasons Father Fitzpatrick, the school's headmaster, has forbidden Ralph to participate in even training for the Marathon, or running in any public race. But *fortunately* the cross country coach, who just happens to have been Canada's premier marathon runner in a previous life, identifies with Ralph's goal and, in defiance of the headmaster, agrees to coach him. But other obstacles abound: Ralph's father is dead and Ralph is living at home alone and being threatened with eviction, the headmaster is trying to put him in a foster home, he burns his house down by accident and barely escapes, he is picked on and made fun of at school and in the community for being caught masturbating in the local swimming pool, and so on. But, when executed well, the formula works. This movie goes down smoothly due primarily to Butcher's winning performance and Campbell Scott's portrayal of the sympathetic Father Hibbert. Their relationship rings true and forms a core of the movie along with Ralph's budding relationship with Claire, a would-be nun who finds a way to rationalize her attraction to Ralph. Jennifer Tily's appearance as Ralph's mother's nurse adds some color. Gordon Pinsent's role as headmaster seems excessive in its sternness, but I am led to understand that his personality is not at all out of the realm of the believable. There are some beautifully filmed scenes of Ralph running against various backgrounds accompanied by inspiring music. I imagine this movie was a shot in the arm for the sport of distance running. A comment by Father Hibbert poses a question for us as to whether, or how often, we have made a sacrifice to take a risk to satisfy a passion, with consequences unknown? Some things just don't work. Ralph is occasionally visited by direct communications with God, personified here as Ralph's father in a Santa Claus suit. I doubt that the intent was to identify a belief in Santa with a belief in God, but that is what I came away with. Ralph's belief in a miracle seemed incongruous with his having been initially presented as a precocious, independent-thinking, resourceful, and savvy kid. The scene where Ralph literally flies while running, probably being a metaphor for the "runner's high," struck me as adding an unnecessary fantastical element. Ralph did not look to have a world class runner's form except in long shots where they must have used a double. About half way through this I began to think about how it was going to end. For Ralph to win the Boston Marathon and have his mother revive would be a stretch, even for such a sentimental movie. But having Ralph lose and his mother not revive would definitely be too much of a downer. So, the ending is the only logical one.

I love how Ralph's vision of God is a cross between the two greatest male figures in his young life - His father and Santa Claus. Of course that is how he would see God. Saint Ralph contains things missing in many films with budgets 10 times as big - a story, a message and a purpose for being made. With a mix of irreverence and reverence, everyone, who's human, can identify with both sides of Ralph's personality. No self-righteous, holier-than-thou arrogance. And the ending is perfect. Ralph's journey is not over. The Olympics is next. (A metaphor for his next step in life) Am I reading too much into this?????

Not many Canadian movies make it all the way to my DVD player, but invariably they are a cut above most Hollywood movies. This is one of the better ones. The writing and acting are so good, every bit of this movie is captivating. It would be hard to find one false step. And, having been a kid myself in the 1950s, and receiving some Catholic education, I can also say it is very authentic for the period. Previously an unknown to me, young Adam Butcher gives an award quality performance as Ralph Walker, a high school freshman in 1953 whose father is deceased and his mother is in the hospital. Although he is home alone, he has a friend with good penmanship write notes from has grandparents who supposedly are staying with him. He is a reprobate of sorts, smoking cigs every chance he gets and often confessing his various sins of the heart and "personal abuse." But Ralph loves his mother, visits her every day at the hospital, and is of course very distraught when mom lapses into a coma. The nurse (Jennifer Tilly) tells him, "It will take a miracle to get her out of the coma." Campbell Scott is excellent as Father George, one of Ralph's teachers who coincidentally happened to be a top marathon runner in 1936, and who teaches cross country. Ralph joins the cross country squad as a way to earn the pain of penance, hoping his reformed life and prayer will result in the miracle that will heal his mother. Fr. George casually mentions the Boston Marathon in a few months, as a joke, but Ralph takes it seriously. Expressing an interest to Fr. George, who replies, "It would take a miracle for you to win Boston." Ralph puts his and the nurse's comments together, if he can win Boston, that would be the miracle that would heal his mother. Not allowing anyone to dissuade him, Ralph is a pathetic runner but vows to train harder than anyone else. The very strict school master Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent) tries to put a stop to it, "A boy needs to know his place in life", but Fr. George reluctantly and in defiance agrees to coach Ralph. Meanwhile mom lies in a coma with no signs of improvement. MAJOR SPOILERS FOLLOW. Ralph wins a local race around the lake, surprising everyone but himself. Still, Boston will be a whole different story. He enters, one of the boys locks himself into the media room at school and plays the radio broadcast of the race. Near the end Ralph hangs on and runs nip and tuck with last year's Boston winner, but is nipped at the tape. Ralph finishes second, believes he has failed. But he receives a warm hero's reception at school, even the admiration of strict Fr. Fitz. He even gets the girl who had said she would become a nun. Then, his mom came out of her coma, even finishing second in Boston was a miracle!