Do "Miracles" Happen to Ordinary People?
It's difficult for Hollywood to make movies that explore faith and spirituality. For starters, they don't appeal to the masses of ticket buyers who aren't all the same religion. Plus, faith - at the very least - is based on lack of proof or finality, so how do you show resolution? But Henry Poole is Here makes a valiant attempt to talk about a subject rarely explored in the movies.
This thoughtful yet odd little film about Henry Poole (Luke Wilson) offers a credible account of an angry, despairing man who fends off faith and hope at every turn. Poole, who buys a home in his drab childhood neighborhood, plans to drink himself to death for mysterious reasons in the quiet solitude of a house that contains very little except lots of liquor and dozens and dozens of Krispy Kreme donuts. However, his dreary solitude is interrupted by his tamale-bearing, nosy neighbor, Esperanza (Adriana Barraza), among many others - all women.
Esperanza is a spiritual woman looking for a sign of hope after the unexpected loss of her boyfriend. She spots the face of Christ on a bad stucco job on Poole's house, and his solitude is no more. To say the intrusions antagonize Poole is an understatement. And don't say the word "miracle" around Poole - that makes him even more surly than the idea that the image on his wall is anything more than a stain.
In addition to Esperanza and her churchgoing throng, there's the six-year-old neighbor, Millie (Morgan Lily), who hasn’t spoken one word since her father left a year earlier. Hovering beyond his fence with a tape recorder that picks up Poole's often mundane conversations, Millie - who is beautiful and withdrawn in such an ethereal way that she very nearly looks animated - is an adorable emotional foil to Poole, but an obvious character device.
When Millie is mysteriously drawn to the stain on Poole's wall and miraculously begins talking again, Esperanza (also the neighborhood gossip) spreads news of the "miracle", bringing droves and droves people. Including Patience - the supermarket clerk who questions Poole's unhealthy food and beverage choices and wears Coke-bottle-lens glasses to see - who comes to Poole's wall and receives the "miracle" of sight. (She also quotes Noam Chomsky, so she's either a linguistics major or a public radio listener.)
Wilson gives a believable though sometimes wacky portrayal of Poole. Radha Mitchell, who plays Millie's mother, Dawn (who reignites some passion in Poole) is unremarkable. And George Lopez, who has a small role as the priest, Father Salazar, is downright forgettable. But Barraza, who was nominated for her role in Babel, steals the show every time she's onscreen. Plus, the simply made film, which has only a handful of characters, also uses its barren suburban setting to great effect.
Can man escape the forces of hope? Are miracles at work? Can salvation be found in the cracked stucco of a wall in California? You decide. For me, the fact that Henry Poole is Here reminds us to keep looking for miracles - and hope - is a point made and well taken.
Directed by Mark Pellington, who's background in music videos was evident throughout the film, Henry Pool is Here was written by Albert Torres. The film contains some occasional foul language.
By Sara-Lynn White
The opinions expressed in this review do not necessarily represent the opinions of Audience Alliance Motion Picture Studios.
