Review of Saving Grace (1986) by Camille L — 16 Nov 2013

"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.