This 2004 feature film from Canada is a gem and deserves a lot of credit for showing some of the athletic determination that isn't about basketball and football. The hero is a kid with minimal family support and the priests in his parochial school are a real mixed-bag. He does find a supportive adult in the nurse who cares for his mother who has been totally incapacitated and is in the 1950s era hospital. The elements that don't quite fit include the 14-year-old's quite contemporary haircuts and the ease he goes from not running to running the 26+ miles necessary for a full marathon. The screenplay does bring up some of the intolerance that was out-and-out bullying by clergy and administrators in Catholic institutions and yet also leave out some of the ways the kid has eluded getting caught without elder supervision and household tending for many, many months. Despite plot weaknesses, SAINT_RALPH deserves a 9 * rating and it has some real belly-laughs throughout. Rent it and talk about its message of "miracles" with your loved ones!
Review of Saint Ralph
