Saving Grace

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Thea D A movie about faith and love and the struggle we have to determine if our expectations are from outside or inside of us. Tom Conti is a wonderful actor and I was happy to rediscover him and newly discover this movie on streaming. We need more mainstream movies like this in which the human experience is explored in such thoughtful ways. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/19/24 Full Review Norbert D I adored this lesser known film, the story of young Pope Leo (Tom Conti), who serendipitously ends up out in the streets by the Vatican and eventually to a dispirited little hill town that survives by scamming the Italian government through the pretense of being afflicted by a local epidemic. He collaborates with a young thief and a hermit, masterfully played by the great Giancarlo Giannini, to try to rally the spirit of the place by rebuilding a decrepit aqueduct. Meanwhile, back in the Vatican, several cardinals hilariously collaborate to hide the fact that the pope has vanished. This is a wonderful tale of how a desperate community can be restored with the right spark plugs. I have to tell you my favourite scene which actually occurs before Leo "escapes": He is holding a session with a triumphant South American soccer team and a politician from the cabal that runs the country asks/demands that the Pope stop radical priests from their efforts at democratization. The politician menacingly says that ion this doesn't stop "We can't be responsible for what happens to them." In a kindly voice, Pope Leo replies, "Ah, but we are all responsible for each other." Just one lovely moment in a film that did not get the good reviews and positive attention it deserved. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 05/11/23 Full Review Audience Member It's funny how faith and hope can kick you in the behind. Based on the book by Celia Gittelson and directed by Robert M. Young. This stars Tom Conti as the newly elected Pape Leo XIV as a newly elected pope. But one day he gets locked outside of the Vatican. He's now stuck in civilian clothes living like the common folk. The thing is Leo feels he's lost touch with the people and it might be gods plan he's outside his holy home. He then learns about friendship and self-esteem. He builds a strong bond with a girl named Isabella who's deaf with her mother. In this village of Monte Petra Leo finds out about an epidemic taking place and how mistreated the citizens are. He begins to discover perhaps his holy influence hasn't reached everywhere its needed most. No one knows what a pope's job actually is, they only think it's to interfere and to rule, no one knows what happens outside unless they're in the middle of it, even a holy man can have an adventure he doesn't count on This is less of a comedy but more of a spiritual journey with someone opening their eyes and their heart to the land they oversee spreading their influence. It's very long but gives a new perspective of how to properly connect to a flock that's lost faith in everything else. Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/22/23 Full Review Audience Member This is a nice story that Tom Conti takes to the next level. The best way I could describe this movie is "heart warming" and "spiritual" (without being religious - if that's possible in a story about a pope). I saw it once on cable about 20 years ago and never forgot the story. This week I bought the DVD to watch again and add to my collection of all time favorites. Rated 4/5 Stars •  Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/10/23 Full Review camille l Cette histoire de Pape enfermé en dehors du Vatican se trouve etre une sympathique comedie dramatique assez touchante et divertissante, sans pour autant laisser un souvenir imperissable. Tom Conti & Giancarlo Giannini sont excellents, les autres seconds roles font le boulot et Edward James Olmos campe un bon bad guy dans un film qui se regarde et s'oublie vite. Il y a de pires facons de passer deux heures devant la télévision. Rated 3.5/5 Stars •  Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member "Pope Leo IV", a fictitious pope, played by Tom Conti, suffers doubts about his faith, when he realizes that he cannot honor a mother's request to save her dying child. After a young deaf child finds her way to the Vatican to ask the pope to send a new priest to her village to replace the priest, who abandoned his post, a series of comical events leads the new pope locked outside the Vatican, dressed in his gardening clothes. Unable to reenter the Vatican, because the security staff is preoccupied with watching a football game, and unrecognizable to the public, he remembers the little deaf girl, and the plight of her village. He then hitchhikes to the village, and finds that the villagers there have suffered a similar crisis of faith, and helplessness to fend for themselves. He then enlists a gang of boys to help him, and the delinquent town priest, to restore the dignity and faith of the town's people, without outside help from the Vatican. These efforts lead to a tragedy that galvanizes the town's people to work with this apparent naive vagabond to restore the town's ability to function, without outside charity. This a wonderful film about exploring one's beliefs, and putting those beliefs to practical use. Something that the current pontiff, Pope Francis (a practical display of Christian values), would undoubtedly support. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/04/23 Full Review Read all reviews

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