Fri., Aug. 5, 2005 12:00 AM PDT
Cross
Chariots of Fire with
Billy Elliot and you've got some idea of what writer-director Michael McGowan is aiming for here. Fourteen-year-old Ralph (Adam Butcher, an immensely gifted newcomer) is having a bad time of it: His father was killed, his mother is dying of a brain tumor,
and he's enrolled in a Catholic boys' school, circa 1953.
Hello, repression! The benign troublemaker finds some redemptive value by joining the track team and naïvely linking his mother's recovery to his athletic success. And since this is one of those hopes-and-dreams-type movies, contemplative priest and cross-country coach
Campbell Scott is touched by this willful boy's determination. Going beyond the never-say-die concept, McGowan paints an evocative picture of provincial life and
mostly steers clear of cliché. And if the film's ending is predictable and drawn out, it's cathartic nonetheless and a welcome reminder that, yes, miracles can happen.
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