| | |  | CANADA | Home » » Saint Ralph | | | | | | | Description: | | Beliving only a miracle can save his sick mother's life, 14-year-old Ralph Walker sets his eyes on a seemingly impossible goal, winning the Boston Marathon. Adam Butcher, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Tilly, and Gordon Pinsent star. | | | Product Details: | | | Actors:
| Adam Butcher, Campbell Scott, Gordon Pinsent, Jennifer Tilly, Shauna MacDonald | | Format:
| AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language:
| English | | Subtitle:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| Sony Pictures Home Entertainment | | Run Time:
| 98 minutes | | DVD Release Date:
| December 13, 2005 | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 67 reviews |
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Average Customer Review:
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36 of 36 found the following review helpful:
 One Young Man's Funny, Heartening Quest to Make a Miracle.Dec 24, 2005
By mirasreviews
"Saint Ralph" is the second movie of 2005 to use religious faith, specifically Catholicism, to create drama and humor in stories about young people and their families. The first was the British film "Millions", about a boy who believes a sack of money that landed on his play house must have come from God. From Canada, we get "Saint Ralph", a good-natured dramedy with genuine emotions and an appealingly mischievous young lead. I find it interesting that both of these films are able to take religious faith seriously, because their main characters do, without taking the doctrine, itself, very seriously. They seem to view religion as a matter-of-fact part of the human experience at the root of many meaningful experiences and a lot of comic absurdity as well. The results are charming, creative films that appeal to both religious and secular audiences.
In 1953, Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher) is a 14-year-old Catholic school freshman always in trouble with the stern headmaster Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent) for petty transgressions. Ralph's is full of life and optimistic, but his girl-chasing and mischief-making belie his troubles. His beloved mother, his only family, is gravely ill. When she falls into a coma, Ralph despairs that he may lose her and end up in an orphanage. Conventional methods of waking her won't work. Ralph needs a miracle. When the coach of his school's cross-country team, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott), mentions that any of his students winning the Boston Marathon would be "a miracle to rival the loaves and fishes", Ralph concludes that that's just the miracle his mother needs. If Ralph can win the Boston Marathon, his mother will recover, or so he believes. With the help of Father Hibbert, his mother's nurse Alice (Jennifer Tilly), and his would-be girlfriend Claire's (Tamara Hope) well-intentioned but screwy advice, Ralph sets out to be a marathoner.
The most crucial thing writer/director Michael McGovern had to do was probably to choose the right actor to play Ralph. Adam Butcher is young and relatively inexperienced, but he has to carry this film. And he does. Ralph is wonderfully irreverent, idealistic, and touchingly loyal to his mother, and he's in nearly every scene. He's funny, dramatic, empathetic, and gives "Saint Ralph" a great deal of emotional authenticity, even though it is a somewhat fanciful story. Butcher is just terrific. I'm sure no small amount of credit is due Michael McGovern's direction. Campbell Scott, one of the greatest living character actors, takes a supporting role with limited dialogue that could easily be called a cliché, but he is able to give Father Hibbert enough emotional weight to overcome that. "Saint Ralph" is low-key and doesn't' strive to be realistic, but it knows where the humor lies in everyday life and isn't afraid to take the view of a young man with some goofy ideas. It's really an enjoyable film.
The DVD (Sony Pictures 2005): Bonus features are one featurette and an audio commentary. "Behind the Scenes of Saint Ralph" (9 minutes) is primarily interviews with writer/director Michael McGovern, in which he talks about the ideas behind the film, and with the cast, who discuss their characters. Also includes brief interviews with the producers and some behind-the-scenes footage. In the audio commentary, Michael McGowan gives a scene-by-scene account of editing and narrative decisions, technical details, and a lot about filming. Subtitles for the film are available in English.
21 of 22 found the following review helpful:
"You're 14 Years Old, Greatness Is Not An Option" ~ "Amazing Things Happen Under A Full Moon"Feb 11, 2006
By Brian E. Erland
"Rainbow Sphinx"
The time is the early 1950's, the place a small provincial Irish Catholic community in Eastern Canada. The story revolves around an intense, energetic young boy named Ralph (Adam Butcher). Things are not going well for the fourteen year old, his Father has died, apparently while serving in the military during WWII and his Mother is in the hospital fighting for her life from an unspecified illness. Things couldn't be any worse unless you add to that the fact that he has just started his freshman year in high school at Saint Magnus Parochial School.
When his Mother falls into a coma Ralph comes to the conclusion that the only way to awaken her is to perform a miracle. Recently assigned to the school cross country team by the school principal as punishment for smoking on campus, his choice of miracles takes on the form of a race. The Boston Marathon.
Can a fourteen year old with no running experience win the Boston Marathon? He does have 180 training days before the big race and the help of Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott) the cross country coach and ex-olympic marathon runner. Who knows, "amazing things happen under a full moon."
Delightful film! Adam Butcher is absolutely perfect as Ralph as is Campbell Scott (one of my favorite actors) as Father Hibbert, the dis-illusioned priest who rediscovers his faith and himself while observing the young boys determination to succeed and create his own miracle.
My Highest Recommendation!
10 of 10 found the following review helpful:
 I Believe in Saint Ralph!Jan 19, 2006
By G P Padillo
"paolo"
Young Adam Butcher is Ralph, an about to be orphaned boy who lost his father in WWII and who's mom is hospital bound in a coma. When told the only chance for recovery is a miracle, Ralph decides to perform one. By training for, and hoping to win, the 1954 Boston Marathon, Ralph believes his mom will be restored.
At 14, Ralph has a few other problems - his hormones are in hyper-drive and finds him getting into a lot of trouble in school and around the community.
Campbell Scott plays Father Hibbert, a youngish priest undergoing his own crisis of faith, but who finds in young Ralph reasons to dare to believe and take a leap of faith.
This is simply a wonderful, touching and often hilarious film that needs to be seen to be appreciated. So see it!
p.
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
Hallelujah! They Did It!Jul 03, 2007
By B. Merritt
"filmreviewstew.com"
SAINT RALPH is a pleasant surprise most watchers will find hidden away (or absent) at most video rental stores simply because it didn't get a lot of notice in the States. Filmed entirely in Canada by a Canadian crew and cast, this film will make it to the top of many favorites lists once viewers get a chance to see it.
If you're a fan of Hoosiers, Rocky, or some other underdog story, you'll slowly fall for Saint Ralph in similar style.
The story is that of a troubled 14-year-old at a parochial Catholic school in 1950s Ontario. Ralph Walker is his name (relative unknown Adam Butcher) and he's acting out at school. He smokes. He uses God's name in vain. He has "impure thoughts." And he has a mother who is very sick; a type of brain cancer is easily surmised. Ralph's father died in WWII and he now lives alone in a dilapidated home. Using school chum Chester (Michael Kanev) to help fake notes from Ralph's non-existent grandmother and grandfather, Ralph is able to fool the Catholic school's principal, Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent, The Good Shepherd), into believing he resides with his aging grandparents.
Ralph's mother Emma (Shauna MacDonald) eventually slips into a coma and Ralph is now truly alone in the world. Grasping at anything that is more anchored than himself, Ralph begins falling apart but holds himself together thanks to a kindly nurse at the hospital named Alice (Jennifer Tilly, Tideland) and a good-hearted priest named Father George Hibbert (Campbell Scott, Music and Lyrics). Father Hibbert one day initiates an interesting discussion in class about miracles and saints. How ordinary people of the past begat divine miracles. And when Ralph was at the hospital recently, Nurse Alice told him it would take a miracle for his mother to wake up from her coma. The idea to do something saintly so that his mother will awaken comes to him and he settles on winning the Boston Marathon. With the help of Father Hibbert's training, Nurse Alice's weight-lifting, and his classmates wavering support, Ralph eventually runs the Boston Marathon and ... we'll have to stop there.
Uplifting isn't a word I would associate with myself, simply because I'm not a religious person. But one not need be to enjoy the messages entrenched in Saint Ralph. The uplifting music (Hallelujah), and the study of human endurance and friendship are a part of each of us regardless of our "godly" make-up. It is hope that'll keep viewers watching, not any sense of the miraculous, simply because many can't or won't believe in miracles (myself among them).
It is also nice that the makers of this excellent movie didn't drop to the lowest religious denominator and thankfully made Ralph be a horribly flawed young man (including drinking, enjoying things that rub against his crotch, cursing, smoking, and nearly giving up on everything and everyone).
The final sequence of scenes will remain with many as we watch Ralph return to school from Boston and meet up with many of his detractors and supporters. Yeah, it's uplifting but hallelujah! it's not corny.
10 of 11 found the following review helpful:
An absolute delightMar 24, 2006
By Andrew Beaulac
From the box cover, title, or description, I probably would never have rented this surprisingly fun tale. And I didn't. A neighbor brought it over and said I would probably enjoy it, as she had found it hilarious. What the heck, a freebie, and I didn't feel like driviing to the video store anyway.
There is no sense in giving the whole plot away. I am not Catholic and have not had the Catholic School experience, yet I still found this story captivating, insightful, moving, and hilarious, and I have told my Catholic friends they NEED to see this movie with a silly title. Let's just say that the characters and acting are thoroughly engaging, the plot deals with familar human feelings in suprisingly unexpected ways. Even the anticipated outcome avoided what the viewer "knows has to happen" and finds a more poignant, rewarding conclusion. But mostly, I laughed out loud several times, utterly caught up in Ralph's words and character. And one hopes that every religious institution will have at least one renegade clergyman like the young priest at Ralph's school. I actually watched this movie two nights in a row and laughed as hard and was touched more deeply the second time.
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