Bless the Child (2000)

Cody, a little girl abandoned by her mother and raised by her aunt, a nurse, is kidnapped. The girl's guardian, aided by an F.B.I. agent, learn that Cody has supernatural abilities, and the abductees are a Satanic cult willing to do anything to gain them.

Director:

Chuck Russell

Writers:

Cathy Cash Spellman (novel), Thomas Rickman (screenplay) (as Tom Rickman)

Stars:

Kim Basinger, Jimmy Smits, Rufus Sewell

1 win & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Kim Basinger	...	Maggie O'Connor
Jimmy Smits	...	John Travis
Holliston Coleman	...	Cody
Rufus Sewell	...	Eric Stark
Angela Bettis	...	Jenna
Christina Ricci	...	Cheri
Michael Gaston	...	Det. Frank Bugatti
Lumi Cavazos	...	Sister Rosa
Dimitra Arliss	...	Dahnya (as Dimitra Arlys)
Eugene Lipinski	...	Stuart
Anne Betancourt	...	Maria
Ian Holm	...	Reverend Grissom
Helen Stenborg	...	Sister Joseph
Matthew Lemche	...	New Dawn Kid at Van
Dan Warry-Smith	...	New Dawn Kid

Storyline

Omens and concepts of good vs. evil have no place in Maggie O'Connor's well-ordered, practical universe. Her life revolves around her job as a nurse at a busy New York City hospital, until one rainy night, her sister Jenna abandons her newborn, autistic daughter at her home. Maggie takes the baby in, and she becomes the daughter she never had. Six years later Jenna suddenly re-appears with a mysterious new husband, Eric, and abducts Cody. Despite the fact that Maggie has no legal rights to Cody, F.B.I. Agent John Travis, an expert in ritual homicide and occult-related crime, takes up her cause when he realizes that Cody shares the same birth date as several other recently missing children. The little girl, it soon becomes clear, is more than simply "special". She manifests extraordinary powers that the forces of evil have waited centuries to control, and her abduction sparks a clash between the soldiers of good and evil that can only be resolved, in the end, by the strength of one ...

---

Plot Keywords:

evil man | heroine | fbi | nurse | satanic cult | 

---

Taglines:

Fear the Darkness. Fight the Evil. Bless the Child.

---

Genres:

Crime | Drama | Horror | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for violence, drug content and brief language

Details

Country:

USA Germany

Language:

English

Release Date:

11 August 2000 (USA)

Also Known As:

Izabranica tame

Filming Locations:

Burlington, Ontario, Canada

Box Office

Budget:

$65,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$9,413,684, 13 August 2000, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$29,374,178, 5 November 2000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Icon Entertainment International, Munich Film Partners & Company (MFP) BTC Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

107 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The line, "The devil's greatest trick was convincing man that he didn't exist," is reminiscent of a similar line in another movie of the same genre, End of Days (1999), in which Father Kotak (Rod Steiger) says: "Satan's greatest trick was convincing man that he didn't exist". It is also similar to The Usual Suspects (1995), where the line is, "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing man that he didn't exist". In fact, that idea goes back to Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867): "La plus belle des ruses du Diable est de vous persuader qu'il n'existe pas!" (English: "The finest trick of the devil is to persuade you that he does not exist."

---

Goofs

Maggie and Cody run past a Shopper's Drug Mart on the street after leaving the dentist office. Shopper's Drug Mart in a pharmacy chain located only in Canada, and yet the scene is set in New York City.

---

Quotes

[first lines]
Woman on Bus: [Haitian accent] Did ya see it yet, darlin'?
Maggie O'Connor: Excuse me?
Woman on Bus: Star of Yakov. What they be callin' the Christmas star. Ain't been seen since Bethlehem. And now it's here.
Maggie O'Connor: That's nice.
Woman on Bus: Oh, yes. It's very nice. It's a good sign for all good people. Means someone special come from God. What do ya think 'bout that?
Maggie O'Connor: I don't know, I - I'm not sure I believe in that king of thing.
Woman on Bus: Oh, that don't matter. It's there if you believe or not believe. It don't care.

---

Connections

Referenced in The Tracey Fragments (2007)

---

Soundtracks

Duck Soup
Courtesy of Universal City Studios, Inc.

User Reviews

For "true believers" only!

The struggle between "good and evil," from the simplistic and superstitious point of view, is a popular theme for shockers aimed at the Christian audience in general, and the Catholic in particular. Those of us who find fantasies about gods and devils rather comical, along with analogous tooth fairy and the boogeyman under the bed business, will view such a plot as unintentionally amusing, but for others, evidently, such silliness must be truly frightening.

This variation on the fool's plot is different from others of the type in that the salvation character is given as a little girl, rather than a boy, but otherwise it is standard hokum. The "devil" is out to take over the world, but Jesus has come back...as a girl? Wow! That much would be astonishing enough except that the writers failed to take advantage of the point. Instead, it's just another example of adults acting like fools, doing the wrong things, going in the wrong directions, and so forth, thus complicating the plot.