Main Cast: Sofia Polanska, Pavol Simon, Ed Harris, Anne Heche, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Charles Haid, Michael Rispoli
Release Year: 1999
Country: US
Run Time: 120 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
A priest finds his faith tested when he's assigned to investigate a possible case of divine intervention. Rev. Frank Shore (Ed Harris) is a Catholic priest who works as a postulator, a church official who investigates reports of holy miracles to determine their veracity. Some time back, one of Shore's investigations had ugly repercussions, and now he devotes his time to running a soup kitchen. But he's called back to service by Bishop Cahill (Charles Haid) when a number of Catholics begin calling for the canonization of the late Helen O'Regan, who is alleged to have performed miracles and whose statue is said to weep tears of blood. Shore begins digging into O'Regan's life and the miracles she is supposed to have performed; in his travels, he meets Maria (Caterina Scorsone), a teenage girl who was supposedly healed by O'Regan, and Roxane (Anne Heche), O'Regan's daughter, who was abandoned by her mother, wants nothing to do with her story, and has given up her belief in God. While investigating the miracle of O'Regan's statue, Shore witnesses the bleeding himself and tells the church that he believes the claims are legitimate. However, this view leads to angry reprisals from Archbishop Werner (Armin Mueller-Stahl); Shore's story is not given any greater credence when he become romantically involved with Roxanne. The Third Miracle was released only a few months after Stigmata, another story of Catholic priests investigating allegations of a modern-day miracle, not the sort of subject one might have expected to become a trend. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
Review
An unlikely combination of medieval miracle play, police procedural, and star-crossed romance, The Third Miracle attempts to perform a juggling act and almost succeeds on the strength of its balanced direction. Polish New Wave veteran Agnieszka Holland has focused on the nature of faith, the boundaries of identity and the specter of war before, and it shows; her character-driven evocation of such themes is the one thread that ties Third Miracle's disparate elements together. In one sense the film offers a behind-the-scenes look at Catholic bureaucracy, suggesting that the Church is a huge multinational company like any other, full of middle-managers and unchecked egos. In another sense, it's a study of one man's search for faith -- of the sense of hope that sometimes hides behind skepticism. On both of these counts, Holland and her fine cast succeed admirably. Ed Harris is smart and solid as the priest who must investigate an alleged miracle, while Anne Heche turns in another fine portrait of a brassy, vulnerable neurotic. The romantic subplot between the two feels unforced; it's almost integral to the development of Harris' character. Yet the twist-laden central plot is more suitable to a soap opera than a serious meditation on faith, and the final act -- which focuses on a church tribunal as it decides whether to canonize a new saint -- feels like a stock legal drama transplanted from the courtroom to the rectory. The film's most compelling moments are actually its quietest, as when Harris' character watches a muted videotape of the alleged saint and sees the inscrutability of the divine reflected in her guarded eyes. Thanks to scenes such as this one, the film's rich themes linger, unresolved, long after the credits roll. The unwieldy combination of undigested genre elements, however, marks this as a lesser work in Holland's impressive oeuvre. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
James Gallanders - Brother Gregory; Jean-Louis Roux - Cardinal Sarrazin; Ken James - Father Paul Panak; Catarina Scorsone - Maria; Barbara Sukowa - Helen; Robert Lee Jarvis; Ned Vukovic; Jade Smith; Monique Mojica; Aron Tager; Norma dell'Agnese; Steve Ferguson; Mark Huisman; Rodger Barton; Sofia Polanska; Pavol Simon
Credit
Andrew M. Stearn - Art Director, Lisa Wilson - Associate Producer, Judy Farkas - Associate Producer, Daryl Sancton - Associate Producer, David J. Siegel - Associate Producer, Todd Thaler - Casting, Clare Walker - Casting, Don Carmody - Co-producer, Denise Cronenberg - Costume Designer, Andrew Shea - First Assistant Director, Agnieszka Holland - Director, David J. Siegel - Editor, Ashok Amritraj - Executive Producer, Francis Ford Coppola - Executive Producer, Andrew Stevens - Executive Producer, Marty Dejczak - Location Manager, Jan A.P. Kaczmarek - Composer (Music Score), Elaine Offers - Makeup, Beverly Carr - Makeup, Robert De Vico - Production Designer, Jerzy Zielinski - Cinematographer, Fred Fuchs - Producer, Steven Haft - Producer, Elie Samaha - Producer, Michael Kavanagh - Special Effects, Dawn Rivard - Special Effects, Peter Shewchuk - Sound/Sound Designer, Richard Vetere - Screenwriter, John Romano - Screenwriter, Henrik R. Fett - Visual Effects Supervisor, Kevin Mullican - Visual Effects Supervisor, Nelson Ferreira - Sound Effects Editor, Tim Kimmel - Sound Effects Editor, Jayson Clute - First Assistant Camera, Kirsta Teague - First Assistant Camera, David Breeze - Gaffer, Christopher Kennedy - Music Editor, Eric Bergman - Post Production Supervisor, Melissa F. Barrie - Production Coordinator, John Brasher - Re-Recording Mixer, Chris David - Re-Recording Mixer, Mike Woroniuk - Re-Recording Mixer, Scott Purdy - Re-Recording Mixer, Tim Merkel - Steadicam Operator, Pierre Vinet - Still Photographer, Brian Smith - ADR Recordist, Shannon O'Connor - Assistant Production Coordinator, Jane Rogers - Extra Casting, Michael McCusker - First Assistant Editor, Douglas Reed - Foley Artist, Gina Nuccio - Foley Editor, Deborah Bacquel - Production Accountant, Kasia Adamik - Storyboard Artist, Richard Vetere - Book Author, Derek Liscoumb - Special Effects Technician
Father Frank Shore (Ed Harris) is an American priest, now a Postulator, who investigates claims of miracles for the Vatican performed by a devout woman whose death caused a statue of the Virgin Mary to bleed upon and cure a girl with terminal lupus. Now the woman has been nominated for sainthood.
Having never encountered a genuine miracle, he is known as the "Miracle Killer" for his track record for debunking false claims of miracles. Father Frank is suffering a crisis of faith when he is sent to investigate the miracles of a woman, the late Helen O'Regan who has been nominated for sainthood, and winds up becoming the greatest advocate for her canonization[2].
Father Frank uncovers a series of extraordinary events but the most extraordinary thing of all may be the "saint's" very earthly daughter, Roxane (Anne Heche). Roxane is a non-believer who cannot forgive her otherwise selfless mother for abandoning her at the age of 16[3].
