A 3-D animated movie about the Mass opens in select theaters this weekend. It hardly seems possible. Yet, it’s true. That alone makes the movie, “The Greatest Miracle” a “miracle.” Trust me when I say it’s unlike any other movie you’re likely to ever see on the big screen.
“The Greatest Miracle” opens on select screens in 14 states Friday, December 9. It’s opening at multiple theaters in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, and Washington. To learn more about the movie and where it’s showing near you, visit the film’s website.
“The Greatest Miracle draws the viewer into the Mass by artistically portraying what we as Catholics believe to be taking place, but what we as human beings are incapable of perceiving [through] our earthly senses,” said Most Rev. David L. Ricken, DD, JCL, Bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, Wisc. “It is my sincerest hope that this film will deepen our understanding and appreciation for the gift of the Eucharist, the source and summit of our Faith.”
The film was produced by Pablo Jose Barroso and Dos Corazones Productions, who have produced “Cristiada,” the film with major celebrity names about the Mexican Cristeros War, which is expected to open in theaters in the spring of 2012. Bruce Morris, visual writer of “Pochahontas” and “Hercules” served as director. Mark McKenzie, who worked on “Dances with Wolves,” wrote the score for the film.
While those who are promoting the film are marketing it as appropriate for all ages, I would urge caution with the youngest viewers. The film received a PG-rating because of the inclusion of demons and a portrayal of purgatory.
The story follows the intersection of three individual’s lives at Mass. While the quality of the film certainly doesn’t rise to the level of Pixar or Disney animation, there’s plenty to like in the movie.
Here’s what I liked and disliked about “The Greatest Miracle.”
What I Liked
In that the film portrays our Guardian angels, how they help us, and how they bring our petitions and offerings to Heaven, I give the film two big thumbs up. This, in fact, is one of the most glorious aspects of the film. C.S. Lewis says that “there is no neutral territory.” We’re born on a battlefield. The supernatural battle that the angels wage on our behalf is depicted well in the film. It brought to mind Frank Peretti’s “This Present Darkness.” It was a joy to see what we believe, yet are unable to see, portrayed so respectfully and reverentially on the big screen.
Another beautiful element of the film is its portrayal of the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We believe that Christ is present in the person of the priest during Confession. The film depicts this in a truly touching way.
I also found the depiction of the Communion of the Saints, the juxtaposition of Christ on the Cross and the Eucharist, and the beautiful portrayal of the Blessed Mary Virgin moving. They make this film well worth seeing.
What I Didn’t Like
The filmmakers should have paid greater attention to some of the finer details. There are several small inconsistencies that are noticeable. For example, at one point it appears that there are few people in Church. The next time, there are many. It appears that people are going to Confession after Mass has started. During the Our Father, the parishioners are sitting down. During Mass, characters are moving around the Church and walking up toward the sanctuary. I found these elements problematic.
My major caution is that while the filmmakers attempt to portray the supernatural, there are some images that could be potentially frightening for younger children, and possibly less-than-helpful.
For example, early on we see numerous depictions of demons coming from the Church floor and walls, crawling about the Church, tempting and distracting people who are on their way to the Sacrament of Reconciliation. While we are continually tempted, the way it’s depicted could be troubling for some younger viewers in that it associates the demons seemingly coming from parts of the Church itself. One demon transforms itself into a temptress to distract two men waiting in line for the Sacrament. Another demon opens it’s mouth and flies at the camera - an image that, in 3-D, young children would be frightened by.
At another point, a female character approaches the altar. As she does so, the floor of the sanctuary appears to open up and a hand is shown coming out to grasp at her ankle. The imagery is meant to portray purgatory. While the lesson the film is teaching is valuable, I couldn’t help but wonder if younger children might not somehow associate the sanctuary with purgatory, and worry that those in purgatory are somehow below the sanctuary waiting to grasp at them. I simply found it a bit disturbing rather than helpful.
Granted, the children at Fatima were given similar visions, and worse, and were able to handle them. A little fear may be helpful. Parents would certainly want to discuss the film with their children afterwards.
In speaking with my own five children about the movie, here’s what they had to say.
Polling my children, none of them liked the portrayal of purgatory.
“The story-telling was good, but the animation was weak,” said my 15-year-old son. “It looked like an old video game.”
“I liked how it went through the Mass and showed the angels coming near the altar,” said one of our 13-year-old daughters.
“I like how it showed what happens during the Mass,” said our 11-year-old daughter.
All in all, as I said earlier, you’re unlikely to see anything quite like this on the big screen again, so take the opportunity to see it while it’s still in theaters.
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I would like to buy this movie when it comes on the market for sale!
Awesome! Thanks!!!
My hope was dashed when reading your negative comments. The problem is that there are MANY in the Church who will not even consider this movie because of the demon portrayal (as you described it.) I am pretty certain that my pastor would not like to promote it. It sounds over-the-top. These are the people we want to fall in love with the Mass!
Perhaps a demon had a hand in the editing.
Truly, it sounds like a great idea. I am afraid I will be disappointed though.
It is unlikely that this movie will come to a theatre near me so I would like to be informed when it is available for sale.
I am not too concerned about some of the imagery being a little scary since most children in the 7-13 age group have seen at least one Harry Potter movie.
I think that the good certainly outweighs the scary.
SQ - The demon portrayal isn’t over-the-top. I simply wanted to caution parents of young children. As Linda Bowen writes, most pre-teens have seen plenty of scarier images. There’s a beautiful moment when the Guardian Angel comes between a penitent and a demon that’s taunting her. We see the shadow of the Angel cast on the wall, and through his intercession Heavenly light falls and all of the demons are cast out. We never see them again in the film. The film is trying to portray the visible and the invisible. As good of a job as it does, any supernatural reality which we attempt to portray is going to pale in comparison. Still, the film is inspiring and worth seeing. As Linda points out, the good definitely outweighs the frightening.
I saw this movie in Mexico about a month ago. A couple of points came to my attention about your comments.
One is that although it’s an American movie in English, I think it’s assumed that it takes place an unidentified Mexican city. Some of your “complaints” are related to this. I joined the Catholic Church in Mexico, and here it seems to be very common that people go to confession during Mass rather than before. Every time I’ve been to confession in Mexico it’s been during Mass. Everyone waiting for confession sits down near the confessional, and participates in the Mass until their turn comes. After having attended Mass (and confession) in Canada several times, I asked my (Mexican) wife about this difference. She said supposedly confession starts before Mass in Mexico too, but they usually start only shortly before Mass, so if there are a lot of people confessing (which there usually are), it can last through most of the Mass. Perhaps this is related to the Mexican perception of punctuality (or lack thereof.)
You said, “during Mass, characters are moving around the Church” - I’ve also noticed that this happens in Mexico. While Canadians who arrive late for Mass I think would try to sneak into the back pews unnoticed, I’ve seen Mexicans arrive very late DURING MASS and walk right up to the steps leading to the altar to genuflect and cross themselves before sitting down. (During the movie, the angel actually complains about a family that arrives late.) They also get up and move around during Mass more readily. I think there are two factors involved in this. One is that Mexicans have slightly different idea of reverence; Mexicans can go to great lengths to show outward signs of reverence (crossing themselves, genuflecting, bowing, fully participating in the appropriate prayers), but not feel they are being irreverent by changing places in the church during Mass. In fact, if you just finished confession, you will always be moving to your “normal” spot, and (in my experience) this happens every Mass when 2 priests are available. I’ve written a few blog posts about this before how Mexican morality (and reverence) is more heavily based on active outward signs (bowing, etc.) more freely expressed, not only the prescribed time, while we Anglophones tend to focus on prohibitions (you shouldn’t get up or make noise during mass, you shouldn’t show up late, etc.) I suspect a balance of the two is necessary (I’m too new to Catholicism to say if either approach is more correct than the other), but I’ve seen enough of Canadian and Mexican culture to know that this factor is definitely related to how each culture views “reverence.”
The second factor of people moving around is that in Mexico Catholicism is the default religion. In the U.S., Canada and many other places, Catholics are a minority - a large minority, but for all but 2 days of the year, the only people who show up for Mass are the more devout Catholics. This means these devout few will be more dedicated to showing reverence and respect through silence and staying still. In Mexico, since it’s the communal religion, anyone and everyone - devout or not, sometimes even non-Catholic - shows up for mass. This means that you’ll have non-devout people in the Mass who may not understand or value reverence. So why do they go then? Because it’s the only place where you go to experience God more closely. Some people think they have to go, even though they are not devout. In many parts of Mexican culture, it’s almost just automatic. It’s what you do. So while you have some devout and reverent people who don’t feel it’s irreverent to move about, there are also plenty of non-devout Catholics who simply don’t know better or care much about reverence.
Closely related is that I’ve seen people in Mexico who just happen to be wandering by, or feel down on life, and stop in for a prayer - during Mass or not. Sometimes they stay for the whole Mass, other times they leave when they finish their own prayer. In fact, this is the whole context of the movie; it’s just that the story conveniently has the three main characters show up just as mass is beginning. If you imagine a real culture (like Mexico) where people will tend to go to the church as a refuge in times of personal turmoil, it’s not always going to work out so “neatly” that they show up just on time for mass.
Just to be clear, I agree with our northern ideas about reverence. Also it’s not that every Mass in Mexico has noisy distractions and lots of people moving around (depending on the specific community, there are churches that wouldn’t have this at all), but what I saw in the movie looked “normal” in the context of Mexico, and I think it helps us to understand why they made the movie that way.
Sitting during the Lord’s Prayer, however, is definitely not something I’ve seen in Mexico! I agree that that’s a careless error in the movie.
One last point is that many people seem to think that this movie is a children’s movie. That’s how it was presented during the announcements in my parish in Mexico. When I arrived at theater with my 3-year-old son, our older Irish priest was there and came to forewarn me that he really didn’t think the movie was made for children. I actually don’t think he was concerned about the demons, but more that the content and ideas would be hard for younger children to grasp, and parts might be boring for them. Fortunately my son loves church and was thrilled to see the Virgin Mary come out of the fresco and later bow at the foot of the cross (the Virgin Mary is a favorite of his!) He also pays very close attention to the Mass so he liked to watch how the different scenes connected to the Eucharist. But I agree with my priest; although it’s a “cartoon” it’s wasn’t made with children in mind. I think children of just about any age can appreciate parts of it, especially if parents know that it’s not really a “children’s movie” and prepare their kids somewhat.
Anyway, I hope you excuse the “novel.” I hope these observations are somewhat helpful!
Jacob,
Thank you so much for the added insight into Mass in Mexico. Of course, you’re correct. The film was made by Mexican filmmakers. I hadn’t thought of the cultural differences, and I’m sure that’s the reason.
That also explains the beautiful portrayal of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe.
I actually forgot about the movie’s portrayal of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It’s kind of become the “normal” one for me since I see her image there so often.
I saw the film twice when it was screen in Green Bay, and I really enjoyed it. I’ll agree with your son’s assessment- the animation is hardly Pixar- qaulity; more reminiscent of an early 2000s computer or video game. But after a few minutes I was used to it and it was no longer an issue.
I really like the portrayal of the angels and demons. Very honest, but not grotesque or scary.
I agree with you about the Purgatory section somewhat; I was thrilled they included teaching on Purgatory (and why it’s important to pray for the Holy Souls) but I don’t know if that was the best time in the story line to mention it.
The best part (in my opinion) was the consecration and portrayal of the connection between Calvary and the Mass and how the angels and saints are gathered to worship Jesus with us.
Finally, concerning Mary, I agree that she was beautifully animated and the portrayal is very touching. She is shown as Our Lady of Guadalupe, quite natural (as someone said above) since the film is set in Mexico. However my one minor quibble was that an uncatechized Catholic or a Protestant might be confused with Mary’s prominence (I’m a convert, so I’m always conscious of how my formerly-Protestant self would have looked at things). In Mexico, where Catholicism is the norm and Marian devotion very ingrained in culture, I don’t think there is much worry about this, but for a non-Catholic American, some of the lines about Mary’s power [of intercession, though that’s not always 100% clear] would be difficult to swallow.
But I say, go see it! A great film for the family; will help remind you of the beauty of our Faith!
In Southern California this film is shown mostly in Spanish; one has to really make sure when calling the theater, that you are going to see it in English, or with English subtitles. At St. Peter Chanel in Hawaiian Gardens, the priests hear Confessions most of the time during the several Masses offered during the day. And if there are folks waiting when Mass is ended, the priests will stay in the Confessional until all are heard. This is a parish where 4000 people have made the Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius, a 10 week very intense series, in the last 6 years. The Oblates of the Virgin Mary who staff the parish are some of the most dedicated priests I’ve ever met. They teach TRUTH at all times, and often some humor thrown in with their homilies and talks.
I loved The Greatest Miracle and saw it several times already with a different friend or family member each time. The music, especially the opening theme song with the clouds, was reminiscent of several dreams I’ve had entering Heaven. I agree with many of the comments of the posters including the portrayal of the Blessed Mother and her intercessory prayers and the perception non-Catholics might have about this portrayal. As with life and knowledge of God’s Will, Catholics completely understand that not all prayers will be answered as we desire. The film did an excellent job on focusing on The Father receiving and answering our petitions and the Sacrifice and Presence of Jesus at the Mass. It was beautifully emphasized that God placed Mother Mary on this earth for us as well. I hope every Catholic has the privilege of watching this movie in 3D. The church visuals were AMAZING! How interesting that the church appeared so real yet the characters and everything outside the church were animated. What a wonderful vision the producers created. The music throughout was incredibly moving too.
I saw the film friday night. It was excellent. The fact that a major motion picture release centered on the Catholic Mass is enough to encourage the faithful to see it. I think it will help people to better understand the sacrificial aspect of the mass, which perhaps has not been understood by many.
I would already like to see a remake using real actors and special effects for the animated portions of the film depicting angels, purgatory, demons, etc.
I drove 50 miles, to a theater, at a packed mall full of Christmas shoppers, to view this film.We faced a few hurdles on the way, but after seeing the film, it was all worth it. Myself and two daughters (8 and 9)were moved by the film and had a lot to talk about on the way home. Funny thing was, the version we saw was in spanish! We did not understand what the characters were saying, but the message was too powerful to miss. Go see this film!
The way I understood the part in the movie where the people approached the alter during Mass was a suspension of time and space. Also, at my parish, confession begins one hour before Mass on Sundays (half hour before for weekday) and typically the line is so long that it goes on through Mass if we have a second priest (normally we do). I thought the movie was great. My only complaint was the 3d but not sure if it was the actual movie, the theater, the glasses or my eyes that sometimes made it hard .
I could only watch a few seconds of the trailer. Why oh why can’t the quality of animation be on par with Pixar or Dreamworks? It was enough to repulse me. I simply can’t get past this awfulness of animation. I have seen other animated ‘Christian’ - most evangelical, films and they are equally horrendous. I won’t go into scripts, but Christendom doesn’t do animation. It was Catholicism which gave the world so much in the realm of beautiful art and music. Animation should be no different.
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