MIFF 2004 FILM FESTIVAL NOTEBOOK
By Joel Johnson
DAY 4
This is our “Ed Harris Day” of the festival. We will see A Flash of Green
(1984) and The Third Miracle (1999) in which Mr. Harris starred.
The annual Mid-Life Achievement Award will be presented to him during the
screening of The Third Miracle. Following that we will go to a reception at
Apollo’s Bistro in Mr. Harris’s honor.
A FLASH OF GREEN
USA, 1984; 131 minutes; 35mm; in English
½
A Flash of Green is a film relatively early in Ed Harris’s
career. In introducing the film, Mr. Harris tells us that the film was
directed by Victor Nunez. A regional filmmaker, Mr. Nunez has built an
impressive career making relatively small films set in and about life in
Florida. He is best known for Ulee’s Gold (1997) which showed in last year’s
MIFF tribute to Peter Fonda. He had gotten some national attention for
his independent film Gal Young’Un (1979). I can recall both Gene Siskel and
Roger Ebert praising it on their PBS program Sneak Previews. A Flash of
Green was a fairly ambitious follow-up to that film. The film is an
adaptation by Mr. Nunez of a John D. MacDonald novel. MacDonald is probably
best known for the Travis McGee detective series but had written noirish
novels prior to that. Several of his novels have been made into films; the
best known of these would be the two Cape Fear movies (1962/1991)
based on the novel Executioners. A Flash of Green is a period
picture set in 1961 Florida, dealing with a shady effort to develop a resort
community through dredging. Mr Nunez was working with a larger and
better-known cast. Ed Harris was coming off The Right Stuff (1983)
having played astronaut John Glenn. Blair Brown was an established star
whose most recent credit was playing Jackie Kennedy in the TV miniseries
Kennedy (1983). The villain would be played by veteran actor Richard
Jordan who would also act as producer. Harris plays newspaper reporter Jimmy
Wing. His wife is in an institution for some unspecified mental illness. He
carries a torch for an old friend Kat Hubble (Blair Brown), recently
widowed. Smarmy county commissioner Elmo Bliss (Richard Jordan) is an old
friend with big ambitions and promises Jimmy a job as press secretary when
Elmo reaches the Governor’s mansion. Elmo gives Jimmy a down payment for his
services. Kat and several of her friends stand in the way of the big island
resort development that Elmo and his business associates intend to create
from fill dredged from the local bay. Unfortunately, the print of this
film had some problems. It showed signs of visual distress—in some places
fairly heavily scratched. More problematic for the filmgoer, the dialogue
was intermittently very difficult to hear. Since the film was a drama and
not an action picture, the dialogue was very important to understanding all
the relationships and certain events in the film that are described but not
seen. The film still is a very well-acted, dark drama that continues to draw
you into its story despite its deliberate pace and the film’s technical
problems. It, however, does seem to lack the kind of punched up
confrontations and resolution that is common in similar films. One has the
impression toward the end that certain types of scenes are repeated more
than necessary and that the ending is neither realistic nor entirely
satisfying. I don’t know the availability of this film on home video or DVD,
but I would be interested in seeing the film again in what I would hope
would be a better print.
The Third Miracle
USA, 1999 119 Min. 35mm in English
½
Agnieszka Holland’s The Third Miracle features Ed Harris playing a
faith-challenged priest. Father Frank Shore is living in a Chicago flophouse
when he is summoned by politically savvy Bishop Cahill (Charles Haid) to
investigate the claim of sainthood for an American woman and determine if it
should be forwarded to the Holy See. Father Frank has been very instrumental
in discrediting miraculous claims, and he has been given the nickname “The Miracle
Killer.” The bishop is not pleased when cultlike followings emerge outside
the normal parish life in the diocese. Such a cultlike following is
developing around the late Helen O’Regan (Barbara Sukowa), the would-be
saint. She is credited with being the source of tears of blood coming from
the eyes of a statue of the Virgin Mary. The tears began on the day of her
funeral and have been linked to the unexplained remission of terminal lupus
for a young girl in whom Helen took an interest. This is, if valid, the
first miracle that the Church can attribute to Helen. Helen lived a
virtuous, life working and eventually moving into a church convent. Her
now-adult daughter Roxane (Anne Heche) doesn’t think so highly of it since
her mother seems to have left her more or less on her own at age sixteen.
Roxane is now a lapsed Catholic and senses more interest from Father Frank
than a priest should have for a woman. The young girl who was cured of lupus
is now a teen who is running with a very rough crowd. Her glowering mother
calls her a slut. Father Frank finds her by cruising the most depressing
sections of Chicago infested with drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes. The
medical records verify Maria Witkowski’s (Caterina Scorsone) miraculous
recovery from lupus. She will later be at death’s door thanks to injuries
received from her pimp boyfriend. The Virgin Mary’s tears of blood that
appear on the anniversary of Helen’s death have been verified to match
Helen’s blood type. Father Frank recommends that the petition for
consideration for beatification, the first step to sainthood, be forwarded
to Rome. An ecclesiastical hearing is held to address this petition in which
Father Frank must advocate for sainthood. Visiting Austrian Archbishop
Werner (Armin Mueller-Stahl) has been asked to be the Devil’s Advocate
arguing against the claims of sainthood. This is an intense confrontation
for which resolution will only occur after the introduction of an event from
Helen’s childhood in Slovakia. This is a thought-provoking film, and Ed
Harris delivers a truly fine performance. There are also good performances
by Anne Heche and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Sadly, this film was very much
underappreciated when released—attributed by Mr. Harris to a poor marketing
effort by the distributor.
Mr. Harris was given his Mid-Life Achievement award following an
introduction by Empire Falls author and screenwriter Richard Russo.
Mr. Harris, who had earlier commented that watching the films he made twenty
years ago may not have been a good idea, had Mr. Russo twist that knife
good-naturedly, pointing out the need for a recipient to work for many years
and to do many films to achieve the body of work requisite for such an
award. As is festival tradition, a moose was awarded to Mr. Harris. It was
described as “Moose á la Pollock.” Graciously, Mr. Harris thanked the
audience, the festival, and the local communities that had been so welcoming
while he had been here filming Empire Falls. He also emphasized that the
central Maine area is very fortunate to have a place like Railroad Square
available because there are so many places that simply don’t have an
independent theater that will show films outside those available at the
local multiplex. A lot of people just are not able to see many of the
wonderful films that we can because they do not have a Railroad Square
Cinema available to them.
Capping the evening is the reception in Mr. Harris’s honor at Apollo’s
Bistro. This is a nice opportunity for festivalgoers and festival staff to
relax enjoying some good food and drink.
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