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Saint Ralph

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"Saint Ralph" is the second movie of 2005 to use religious faith, specifically Catholicism, to create drama and humor in stories about young people and their families. The first was the British film "Millions", about a boy who believes a sack of money that landed on his play house must have come from God. From Canada, we get "Saint Ralph", a good-natured dramedy with genuine emotions and an appealingly mischievous young lead. I find it interesting that both of these films are able to take religious faith seriously, because their main characters do, without taking the doctrine, itself, very seriously. They seem to view religion as a matter-of-fact part of the human experience at the root of many meaningful experiences and a lot of comic absurdity as well. The results are charming, creative films that appeal to both religious and secular audiences.

In 1953, Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher) is a 14-year-old Catholic school freshman always in trouble with the stern headmaster Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent) for petty transgressions. Ralph's is full of life and optimistic, but his girl-chasing and mischief-making belie his troubles. His beloved mother, his only family, is gravely ill. When she falls into a coma, Ralph despairs that he may lose her and end up in an orphanage. Conventional methods of waking her won't work. Ralph needs a miracle. When the coach of his school's cross-country team, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), mentions that any of his students winning the Boston Marathon would be "a miracle to rival the loaves and fishes", Ralph concludes that that's just the miracle his mother needs. If Ralph can win the Boston Marathon, his mother will recover, or so he believes. With the help of Father Hibbert, his mother's nurse Alice (Jennifer Tilly), and his would-be girlfriend Claire's (Tamara Hope) well-intentioned but screwy advice, Ralph sets out to be a marathoner.

The most crucial thing writer/director Michael McGovern had to do was probably to choose the right actor to play Ralph. Adam Butcher is young and relatively inexperienced, but he has to carry this film. And he does. Ralph is wonderfully irreverent, idealistic, and touchingly loyal to his mother, and he's in nearly every scene. He's funny, dramatic, empathetic, and gives "Saint Ralph" a great deal of emotional authenticity, even though it is a somewhat fanciful story. Butcher is just terrific. I'm sure no small amount of credit is due Michael McGovern's direction. Campbell Scott, one of the greatest living character actors, takes a supporting role with limited dialogue that could easily be called a cliché, but he is able to give Father Hibbert enough emotional weight to overcome that. "Saint Ralph" is low-key and doesn't' strive to be realistic, but it knows where the humor lies in everyday life and isn't afraid to take the view of a young man with some goofy ideas. It's really an enjoyable film.

The DVD (Sony Pictures 2005): Bonus features are one featurette and an audio commentary. "Behind the Scenes of Saint Ralph" (9 minutes) is primarily interviews with writer/director Michael McGovern, in which he talks about the ideas behind the film, and with the cast, who discuss their characters. Also includes brief interviews with the producers and some behind-the-scenes footage. In the audio commentary, Michael McGowan gives a scene-by-scene account of editing and narrative decisions, technical details, and a lot about filming. Subtitles for the film are available in English.

The time is the early 1950's, the place a small provincial Irish Catholic community in Eastern Canada. The story revolves around an intense, energetic young boy named Ralph (Adam Butcher). Things are not going well for the fourteen year old, his Father has died, apparently while serving in the military during WWII and his Mother is in the hospital fighting for her life from an unspecified illness. Things couldn't be any worse unless you add to that the fact that he has just started his freshman year in high school at Saint Magnus Parochial School.

When his Mother falls into a coma Ralph comes to the conclusion that the only way to awaken her is to perform a miracle. Recently assigned to the school cross country team by the school principal as punishment for smoking on campus, his choice of miracles takes on the form of a race. The Boston Marathon.

Can a fourteen year old with no running experience win the Boston Marathon? He does have 180 training days before the big race and the help of Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott) the cross country coach and ex-olympic marathon runner. Who knows, "amazing things happen under a full moon."

Delightful film! Adam Butcher is absolutely perfect as Ralph as is Campbell Scott (one of my favorite actors) as Father Hibbert, the dis-illusioned priest who rediscovers his faith and himself while observing the young boys determination to succeed and create his own miracle.

My Highest Recommendation!

Young Adam Butcher is Ralph, an about to be orphaned boy who lost his father in WWII and who's mom is hospital bound in a coma. When told the only chance for recovery is a miracle, Ralph decides to perform one. By training for, and hoping to win, the 1954 Boston Marathon, Ralph believes his mom will be restored.

At 14, Ralph has a few other problems - his hormones are in hyper-drive and finds him getting into a lot of trouble in school and around the community.

Campbell Scott plays Father Hibbert, a youngish priest undergoing his own crisis of faith, but who finds in young Ralph reasons to dare to believe and take a leap of faith.

This is simply a wonderful, touching and often hilarious film that needs to be seen to be appreciated. So see it!

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SAINT RALPH is a pleasant surprise most watchers will find hidden away (or absent) at most video rental stores simply because it didn't get a lot of notice in the States. Filmed entirely in Canada by a Canadian crew and cast, this film will make it to the top of many favorites lists once viewers get a chance to see it.

If you're a fan of Hoosiers, Rocky, or some other underdog story, you'll slowly fall for Saint Ralph in similar style.

The story is that of a troubled 14-year-old at a parochial Catholic school in 1950s Ontario. Ralph Walker is his name (relative unknown Adam Butcher) and he's acting out at school. He smokes. He uses God's name in vain. He has "impure thoughts." And he has a mother who is very sick; a type of brain cancer is easily surmised. Ralph's father died in WWII and he now lives alone in a dilapidated home. Using school chum Chester (Michael Kanev) to help fake notes from Ralph's non-existent grandmother and grandfather, Ralph is able to fool the Catholic school's principal, Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent, The Good Shepherd), into believing he resides with his aging grandparents.

Ralph's mother Emma (Shauna MacDonald) eventually slips into a coma and Ralph is now truly alone in the world. Grasping at anything that is more anchored than himself, Ralph begins falling apart but holds himself together thanks to a kindly nurse at the hospital named Alice (Jennifer Tilly, Tideland) and a good-hearted priest named Father George Hibbert (Campbell Scott, Music and Lyrics). Father Hibbert one day initiates an interesting discussion in class about miracles and saints. How ordinary people of the past begat divine miracles. And when Ralph was at the hospital recently, Nurse Alice told him it would take a miracle for his mother to wake up from her coma. The idea to do something saintly so that his mother will awaken comes to him and he settles on winning the Boston Marathon. With the help of Father Hibbert's training, Nurse Alice's weight-lifting, and his classmates wavering support, Ralph eventually runs the Boston Marathon and ... we'll have to stop there.

Uplifting isn't a word I would associate with myself, simply because I'm not a religious person. But one not need be to enjoy the messages entrenched in Saint Ralph. The uplifting music (Hallelujah), and the study of human endurance and friendship are a part of each of us regardless of our "godly" make-up. It is hope that'll keep viewers watching, not any sense of the miraculous, simply because many can't or won't believe in miracles (myself among them).

It is also nice that the makers of this excellent movie didn't drop to the lowest religious denominator and thankfully made Ralph be a horribly flawed young man (including drinking, enjoying things that rub against his crotch, cursing, smoking, and nearly giving up on everything and everyone).

The final sequence of scenes will remain with many as we watch Ralph return to school from Boston and meet up with many of his detractors and supporters. Yeah, it's uplifting but hallelujah! it's not corny.

From the box cover, title, or description, I probably would never have rented this surprisingly fun tale. And I didn't. A neighbor brought it over and said I would probably enjoy it, as she had found it hilarious. What the heck, a freebie, and I didn't feel like driviing to the video store anyway.
There is no sense in giving the whole plot away. I am not Catholic and have not had the Catholic School experience, yet I still found this story captivating, insightful, moving, and hilarious, and I have told my Catholic friends they NEED to see this movie with a silly title. Let's just say that the characters and acting are thoroughly engaging, the plot deals with familar human feelings in suprisingly unexpected ways. Even the anticipated outcome avoided what the viewer "knows has to happen" and finds a more poignant, rewarding conclusion. But mostly, I laughed out loud several times, utterly caught up in Ralph's words and character. And one hopes that every religious institution will have at least one renegade clergyman like the young priest at Ralph's school. I actually watched this movie two nights in a row and laughed as hard and was touched more deeply the second time.

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 beahvioral 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, December 05

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, and I have watched it 3 times already, certainly one I want to have in my portfolio of movies. Perhaps, I liked it so much because it brought back memories for me when I was in an all boys high school taught by priests, but even without that memory, it was an all around good movie, acting, dialogue, and it had a little bit of everything in it, even some fantasy.

A charming, feel good story about a young teen whose love for his mom drives him to strive for something that's seemingly unachievable -- winning the Boston Marathon as a 14-year old neophyte marathoner. Great acting by the entire cast, especially Adam Butcher as young Ralph Walker, who faces becoming an orphan. This film is not for everyone, and it does have some shortcomings, but, if you like feel good movies, then you'll like this one. In the end, it's a hopeful, redemptive tale that will resonate with anyone 18 or older -- and maybe even with those who are a few years younger. Worth watching more than once. The director's commentary is worthwhile. The "making of" feature ended too abruptly for this viewer.

Well, Saint Ralph is an endearing peek back at puberty, dreams, and parochial supervision. Nice insights into friendships and the bonds between children and parents. I heartily recommend this film. It will make you smile, cry, and generally make you feel good about life in the end.

Saint Ralph is a treasure. It is an inspiring story of a young boy pursuing his miracle for the healing of his mother in a coma. His pursuit takes him on a roller coaster of emotions and experiences. It is lighthearted and also significantly inspiring. The boy's dream changes him, his community, priests and family.

Unfortunately, the movie earns its PG-13 status due to some minor nudity and several references and scenes about "abusing oneself" Otherwise, it would be excellent for all ages. As it is, great for above 13 and adults.