Saint Judy

Dir. Sean Hanish is just as selfless in his filmmaking as Judith Wood was in her pursuit for equality. Saint Judy follows Wood's (Michelle Monaghan) relentless journey to find asylum for Afghan refugee Asefa (Leem Lubany), after an immoral arrest for her empowerment and education of young women. Hanish is equally determined to give Wood a voice that is heard beyond the judicial system, using any cinematic means necessary to project what Wood preached on to the big screen. He does not shy away from expositional dialogue, which works to his advantage, because giving Wood an entire backstory would have dragged out the plot to the point where audiences would lose interest. Hanish also uses the B Plot brilliantly by giving viewers a break from the complexity of the legal case while still engaging them in the domino effect that Judith's devotion has on her domestic life. Saint Judy ultimately follows the framework for a biopic in a way that emphasizes the thematics of Judith Wood's story over her own personality, which is an act just as altruistic as Wood herself.