Saint Ralph: Kritiken

Saint Ralph ist eine gute Drama-Tragiekomödie mit extrem spannendem Schluss. Der ganze Film macht Spaß und ist schön anzugucken. Hat mir gefallen.

Kann ich nur weiterempfehlen.

8/10. Stark.

"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.