The Vatican sends a priest to verify some miracles, performed by a woman who has been nominated for sainthood. During his investigation, the priest, who is experiencing a crisis of faith, re-discovers his own purpose in life.
Her son dying of cancer and her marriage falling apart, Julie flees to Poland in search of a man who can heal using his hands. Julie finds not only a magical cure for her son, but also ... See full summary »
Director:
Agnieszka Holland
Stars:
Miranda Otto,
William Fichtner,
Lothaire Bluteau
The script by Eva Borusevicova describes the true story of Janosik, the XVIII centuries outlaw, who was prowling through Slovak-Polish border. The story of Janosik, a legendary "Central ... See full summary »
Directors:
Kasia Adamik,
Agnieszka Holland
Stars:
Václav Jirácek,
Ivan Martinka,
Michal Zebrowski
Catherine Sloper has found the man of her dreams in Morris Townsend, but her plans to marry him are strongly opposed by her father, who believes Townsend is only interested in his daughter ... See full summary »
Director:
Agnieszka Holland
Stars:
Jennifer Jason Leigh,
Albert Finney,
Maggie Smith
In the winter of 1942-43, a Jewish family leaps from a train going through Silesia. They are separated in the woods, and Leon, a local peasant who's now a farmer of some wealth, discovers ... See full summary »
Director:
Agnieszka Holland
Stars:
Armin Mueller-Stahl,
Elisabeth Trissenaar,
Wojciech Pszoniak
A skeptical Bishop sends a broken priest as Postulator to investigate the possible beatification of a simple, devout woman whose death caused a statue of the Virgin Mary to bleed upon and cure a girl with terminal lupus. The politically weary priest unknowingly embarks on a spiritual journey that rebuilds his shattered faith and life.Written by
Jim Norman <jnorman1@qwest.net>
The German expression "dummes Zeug", uttered by archbishop Werner during the tribunal, means "rubbish". See more »
Goofs
During the scenes of the first miracle, young Helen has brown eyes. In the videos as an adult, she has blue eyes. See more »
Quotes
Frank Shore:
You were there, weren't you? What did you see? Did you see the miracIe?
Werner:
No, it was an unwise miracIe. Unwise and capricious. To grant the wishes of a gypsy girI, to spare her famiIy when millions... when millions died! Caprice of God! I wouId say it to God if He were in this room. I wouId say it to Him!
Frank Shore:
And He isn't in this room?
Werner:
Don't debate with me. We are not before that pompous ass Sarrazin.
See more »
"Dogma" showed that throwing darts at the Roman Catholic Church isn't hard to do. Similarly, "Stigmata" created villains within the Church hierarchy with relative ease. The hard part is making some sense of what motivates priests and nuns to carry on in spite of this undeserved negativism. That's what makes "The Third Miracle" a joy to watch - a film that goes beyond stereotypes and biases to try to find answers. There is something in this film that believers and non-believers can take away from even though "The Third Miracle" has decidedly taken a strong stand about matters of faith. The linking of a wayward postulator, Father Frank, searching to legitimize a common woman for sainthood, with his own personal search for God is very effective. Equally so is how the film shows the powerful role of secularism in the lives of men we call 'holy' (can it be any more obvious than the Bishop's mud bath?). A stroke of trickery at the end doesn't spoil the way this film invites us to consider faith as truly an all-or-nothing proposition. Certainly for Father Frank, the invitation to faith and to his own priesthood was based on a shaky bargain with God to spare the life of his father. For Roxane, the daughter of Helen O'Reagan, the decision to exclude God was equally as capricious - that God would take her mother away from her just because she had to do God's work. For Archbishop Werner, the God he defends and the God he internalizes are two different beings - one who is all knowing and all powerful, the other who cannot see beyond things black and white. "The Third Miracle", then, is not just about canonizing a dead woman, a holy housewife, but about how these three living players interact and struggle with each other to arrive at their own faith. This interaction is played out so well due to brilliant performances by Anne Heche, Ed Harris, and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Miracles strengthen one's faith but the visible miracles are more likely to move those who need a sign to believe. The irony of Father Frank is that he was instructed to disprove the very extraordinary acts of faith which he desperately needed to save his own spiritual life. It took him two hours, the length of this film, to find his miracle. "The Third Miracle" leaves us with a similar challenge, how long will it take for us to find that same miracle, that same faith.
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"Dogma" showed that throwing darts at the Roman Catholic Church isn't hard to do. Similarly, "Stigmata" created villains within the Church hierarchy with relative ease. The hard part is making some sense of what motivates priests and nuns to carry on in spite of this undeserved negativism. That's what makes "The Third Miracle" a joy to watch - a film that goes beyond stereotypes and biases to try to find answers. There is something in this film that believers and non-believers can take away from even though "The Third Miracle" has decidedly taken a strong stand about matters of faith. The linking of a wayward postulator, Father Frank, searching to legitimize a common woman for sainthood, with his own personal search for God is very effective. Equally so is how the film shows the powerful role of secularism in the lives of men we call 'holy' (can it be any more obvious than the Bishop's mud bath?). A stroke of trickery at the end doesn't spoil the way this film invites us to consider faith as truly an all-or-nothing proposition. Certainly for Father Frank, the invitation to faith and to his own priesthood was based on a shaky bargain with God to spare the life of his father. For Roxane, the daughter of Helen O'Reagan, the decision to exclude God was equally as capricious - that God would take her mother away from her just because she had to do God's work. For Archbishop Werner, the God he defends and the God he internalizes are two different beings - one who is all knowing and all powerful, the other who cannot see beyond things black and white. "The Third Miracle", then, is not just about canonizing a dead woman, a holy housewife, but about how these three living players interact and struggle with each other to arrive at their own faith. This interaction is played out so well due to brilliant performances by Anne Heche, Ed Harris, and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Miracles strengthen one's faith but the visible miracles are more likely to move those who need a sign to believe. The irony of Father Frank is that he was instructed to disprove the very extraordinary acts of faith which he desperately needed to save his own spiritual life. It took him two hours, the length of this film, to find his miracle. "The Third Miracle" leaves us with a similar challenge, how long will it take for us to find that same miracle, that same faith.