Closing in on Easter Sunday, everyone. Though usually and yet technically Easter always begins in April and for some reason a year ago it started on the last day of March. And granted I don't make the laws in the world, but it does get confusing sometimes when Lent begins in the earlier parts of February or the earliest part of March either way makes no sense. Okay getting back on track, we are indeed closer to Easter and as always in my monthly recommendations I talk about faith-based movies. And the Third Miracle is most certainly one of these hidden gems that need to be out of the darkness and brought back into the light. Staring ever talented Ed Harris and the late Anne Heche though I should be making some jokes, but I can't mainly I don't have any as well as, it's not been long enough years to take something tragic to become funny, just ask David Carradine.
Roman Catholic priest Frank Shore (Ed Harris), who is struggling with his faith, is an investigator in the canonization process of a woman who is said to have performed miracles during -- and after -- her lifetime. Shore interviews the woman's daughter, Roxanne (Anne Heche), who tells him of the horrible neglect she suffered from the would-be saint. The priest must reconcile the daughter's stories with other tales of the woman's worthiness, while also wrestling with his own carnal desires.
The Third Miracle was another one of these movies that my Mother has been recommending me for quite some time, and in all fairness I was either not sure what to make of this movie mainly because Anne Heche didn't make a whole lot of good movies or thinking of other things that necessarily don't matter because I now watched the movie furthermore consider it worthy for my monthly recommendations. Anyway, this is one of those hidden gems that is great from start to finish, and yet how did this film get lost in the realm of good movies, though sure it obviously didn't do well at the box office like most hidden gem treasures. But this was a really good film that blends a lot of great themes between miracles and reason, moreover you have a protagonist played by Ed Harris whose a struggling priest, having doubts on his faith and yet he begins to see things that can't be explained he can't go back from it and realizes that he needs to fight for this woman's worthiness to become a saint. What's also great about the movie not just miracle vs reason, but the film explores family relationships as well as the struggle to reconcile faith with personal experiences and there are moments in my life and today where I just have troubles with my faith and I don't even know how to express these emotions but in the end I tend to go to church for some piece and silence as well as reading the bible. Ed Harris is exceptionally great in this movie, I mean anything the man does from being in a supportive role or playing an anti-hero, he always finds ways in making his role memorable. As great as, Ed Harris was in the movie, actor Armin Mueller-Stahl shines in the supporting role as Arch Bishop Werner, who challenges Harris's character as to what is and what's not a true miracle or false miracle and there battles in the third act of the film are great, for many reasons they have these great points about priests or bishop's judging people in their troubles almost as if they think their God, and I had to watch the film twice for reasons I felt I missed something when watching the movie the first time and watching the film again I begin to spend the missing piece that I've been missing and it was a mind blown experience and the other surprising notion when looking up Stahl's filmography is that he was the antagonist in Eastern Promises (a film that praised Viggo Mortenson's performance), for which I was surprised as well as thought it was cool. Granted the film is not perfect in fact their certain scenes or subplots I wished they would have taken out, but neither is the remake to 1959 classic Ben Hur and for anyone who needs a reminder, yes there was a remake released in 2016 with Morgan Freeman. But what the 2016 version Ben Hur and The Third Miracle have in common is they both have themes in religion that give the films interesting take for the movie and with The Third Miracle this for sure explores a lot of great themes of faith and doubt but more importantly struggling with keeping your faith as well. Furthermore, The Third Miracle is another great example like The Chosen, when you make a great Christian movie or show, is to surround the story with great actors. For a moment I wasn't sure if this movie would be able to be seen but thank the Lord himself as well as Tubi, because Tubi when I looked up the movie is featured on the streaming app so, for all Christians, Jewish or Muslims even Non-Believers, I would most certainly check this movie out in the month of April for great acting as well as great themes that would make great discussions for anyone who have their own struggles between faith and doubt.
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