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Saving Grace (1985)

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2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out Film Guide

A troubled man, hemmed in by the protocol of his position, Pope Leo XIV (Conti) impulsively opts for a working holiday. Moved by a little girl's story of her village - stricken by an earthquake and without a priest - the undercover Holy Father hitchhikes deep into the (picture postcard) Italian south, and proceeds to preach the protestant work ethic to people whose major source of income is government aid derived from the odd staged epidemic. Through his arduous efforts - 'he's a Pope who smiles, a Pope who cries, a Pope who loves, hates, and learns to love again' - Leo sets the villagers in motion once more. Despite a plot veiled in about as much mystery as an uncracked soft-boiled egg, Saving Grace does retain a certain Disneyesque charm as an innocent modern fable.

Author: SGo

Time Out Film Guide

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User reviews of this film

charlotte kastelic said...

Posted on Nov 26 2009 07:29 I first saw this on tv in '87 and I enjoyed it thoroughly. The years went by, and I forgot about it. Recently I remembered the movie again and ordered it. This is actually a masterpiece, it will be known as such some day I think. Tom Conti's deeply touching performance, and his goodness and love for the village and the children -- I can't praise it highly enough. He is a real man of God because he fights for what is right and good against the evil he encounters, and stands up to it. His scene with the little deaf girl is the very essence of real and true love. I don't think I might have ever seen a scene more touching. How is it that a movie like this becomes so obscure? No one seems to know of it.

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a in cali said...

Posted on Dec 07 2008 03:18 This review does not do justice for such a great movie

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