Product Description

Ed Harris and Anne Heche star in Agnieszka Holland's provocative mystery that explores the spiritual phenomenon behind miracles, and the doubts and desires of a priest who has lost his faith. Father Frank Shore is a church-appointed spiritual detective whose job it is to investigate claims of miracles. An investigation leads him to a woman who challenges his beliefs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #43138 in DVD
• Brand: HARRIS,ED
• Released on: 2000-06-13
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 118 minutes

Customer Reviews

The unsuspected healing properties of Group A blood
THE THIRD MIRACLE opens with an Allied air raid on a Czech town late in WW II. The sequence focuses on a little girl praying as the bombs fall, and on a wounded German soldier who sees her and the pigeons.

Fast forward to 1979 in Chicago. Father Frank Shore, played by Ed Harris, is a Roman Catholic priest undergoing a crisis of faith regarding his God, his Church, and his role as a cleric. Yet, he's also the diocesan postulator, i.e. the priest who investigates the life of any individual being popularly acclaimed for sainthood, and who makes a subsequent recommendation (thumbs up or down) to the bishop preparatory to the possible involvement of Rome. Fr. Frank is known as "The Miracle Killer" for his previous work debunking potential sainthood. Thus, the bishop tasks him with scrutinizing the life of one Helen O'Regan, who is, after her death, being proclaimed a saint by the members of a local parish at which she worked. Ostensible evidence for her special relationship with the Lord is the blood that drips from the eyes of a parish statue of the Virgin Mary during November when it rains. (Helen died in November during a rainstorm.) One miracle has already been reported, the complete cure of a little girl with fatal lupus erythematosis, Maria Witkowski, after she comes into contact with the blood while praying to Helen at the foot of the statue.

This is more a story of Shore's search for renewed faith than that of O'Regan's possible eligibility for sainthood, though the latter serves as the vehicle for the former. Shore is desperate to revitalize his life, and seems ripe to do so with Helen's daughter Roxanne, vivaciously played by Anne Heche. The scene between the two on Helen's grave is positively effervescent. Will Frank compromise his priestly vow of celibacy?

As the probe into the reported miracle and Helen's life continues, Shore comes into conflict with Archbishop Werner, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl, an arrogant, contemptuous, German prelate who believes that America doesn't need another saint, or at least one whose elevation is predicated on such evidence as presented in the O'Regan case. Werner is a member of a tribunal sent by the Vatican to hear that evidence, during which process miracle #2 occurs, again involving Maria. Even then, Werner's adamant opposition is not softened.

All actors in this film are splendid, especially Ed Harris, whose Fr. Frank is likely to be an enormously sympathetic character, especially with Roman Catholics, who are well acquainted with priests, bishops, saints, and the concept of miracles. I would even go so far as to say that only a Catholic could appreciate this movie. Those of other faiths might consider it a fairy tale about superstitious nonsense. Be that as it may, the film's "gotcha" is the plot twist surrounding THE THIRD MIRACLE. For Catholics, the film is a must-see, along with those gems from the past, CATHOLICS and AGNES OF GOD. All three serve to remind that, in the Age of Science, Faith cannot be absent.

Deeply Haunting
'The Third Miracle' is one of my all time favorite movies for a few simple reasons: an intriguing, haunting plot; moving, believable actors; and beautiful cinematography. The visual aspect is stunning, conveying the emotions of the movie, or even a particular scene, without characters or words. I don't know if bits of it were filmed on location, but it seems so, beacuse of the stirring reality of the landscape.

Ed Harris and Anne Heche are fabulous, as is Mueller-Stahl. The preformance by Ed Harris, however, is Oscar-worthy on so many levels - brilliance, brilliance, brilliance. Overall, perfect.

Perfect actuallys sums up the entire movie. Moving, spiritual (I am an aethist, and as corny as this sounds, I was very close to re-examining my beliefs after watching this movie. The Catholic religion never looked so good!) and beautiful. Displays well all aspects, good and bad, terrible and wonderful, of the human spirit. Not to be missed.

And, contrary to some belief, also not at all boring. Intriguing in many ways.

Faith
The Third Miracle is more than simple the story of the canonization or attempt at canonization of a possible saint. It is actually more than the petty stuggles associated with the process. It isn't really even about the person that they are considering for sainthood. This movie is about faith.

What strikes the viewer is the different sizes and shapes that faith comes in. Frank Shore is struggling with his own doubts. Does God exist? And if God does is God concerned with the likes of him. He wonders what role he has or should have in the process. He's not sure that he has the faith to be a parish priest let alone the brilliant apostalate that they all want him to be. In contrast John 's faith which Frank Shore is envious of, is built on some bedrock which must be a gift from the sustainer of the universe. The Bishop Cahill's faith seems to have been swallowed up by his aspirations to climb the liturgical ladder. He believes but what effect that faith has on his own life or the power he wields over others is ambiquous. His faith is perhaps faith in himself that he has the best of everyone in mind. There are other's whose faith is real but their arrogance suggests that they indeed know what God would do and how God would do it. They are willing to argue with the sustainer fo the universe were That God present in that room. And Frank asks, "Isn't God present right now in that room?" Then there are those with no faith. This movie isn't about the inconsistencies and pettiness that all people share the world over. Those interactions just make the movie real. To think that they are only the machinery of the Cathlic church would be naive. This Movie is worth seeing by anyone who wishes to examine and judge their own faith. Perhaps when they honestly do they will judge other's faith less harshly.