SpuffyWeb Sadly Over-hyped

Micitype Pretty Good

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Ezmae Chang This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

pvlcko Ed Harris and Anne Heche display fabulous performances in The Third Miracle, and this, instead of the plot and storyline, made the movie. What the film and possibly Catholic dogmatics err on is their failure to acknowledge the very scriptural definition of "faith" (Hebrews 11:1). Faith should not at all be based on signs and miracles, even though Jesus and God often employed visible miracles. However, miracles are employed not to bring faith, but to authenticate divinity before unbelievers. Faith only comes from hearing God's Word, sharing in the Eucarist and baptism. The film fails grossly in separating the true meaning of faith and miracles.Aside from erroneous Christian dogmatics, the film and research team failed to get their facts straight on the events that occurred in Banska Bystrica, Slovakia in 1944. Banska Bystrica was controlled only by the Slovak Army throughout 1944. The German Army only occupied Banska Bystrica in October 1944 after they crushed the Slovak National Uprising whose headquarters was in Banska Bystrica. The German Air Force bombed Banska Bystrica between September and October 1944. The Americans never bombed Banska Bystrica in 1944. In fact, the Americans flew in to an airport just south of Banska Bystrica (Tri Duby) several B-17 fortresses with war matériel in support of the insurgent Slovak Army during the Slovak National Uprising in September and October 1944. On August 20, 1944, the 15th USAF flew bombing missions over Banska Bystrica to bomb an oil refinery at Dubová just 20 km NE of Banska Bystrica, but never dropped bombs on Banska Bystrica. (See http://www.muzeumsnp.sk/WWW-USA-nov%E1/USA-GB-oprava.htm for greater detail.) Banska Bystrica was finally liberated from Nazi control in March 1945, and if there was any bombing of Banska Bystrica in 1945, it was performed by the Soviet Air Force.

childintime-1 I am not well qualified to comment on this movie from any technical or artistic perspective. However, it has now become my favourite movie for one reason. As a man of faith, I have had to endure years of Hollywood trivializing or sensationalizing most aspects of faith and religion. It seems to be the one subject with which they can find no degree of comfort or reconciliation. The Third Miracle, however, is a luminous study in how several characters learn to deal with their own faith, and yet it never tries to advocate any of those as right or wrong. It even avoids trying to be too specific about just how the struggle is resolved for each person. In the end there is a sense that they are all just a little further down the road. And that is, to me, exactly what faith is all about.It wouldn't matter if the "religion" involved were something other than Christian (spedifically Catholic). This could have been a story about Jews, Baha'is, Buddhists, Muslims, Hindus, or Zoroastrians. Within the context of each religion is the matter of how each believer learns and lives his faith. It is a personal struggle, a mystical relationship that draws each toward his Creator. The events portrayed in the film may seem to some to be fantastic or surreal, but faith is also each of those. Miracles are intended for those who witness them, and they are simply what happens when a higher law than the one we thought immutable comes into play. One can't prove a miracle to another any more than the other can disprove it.The two most interesting characters are those portrayed by Ed Harris and Armin Mueller-Stahl. Each has had profound experiences with both faith and religion, and come to starkly differing conclusions. And yet each man's dedication to his convictions is compelling. Harris' scene in the confessional booth is a heart-wrenching example of how impotent one can feel when in moments of doubt. Mueller-Stahl later gives a chilling demonstration of the intolerance that can arise when one denies the promptings of the spirit: "Caprice of God! I would say it to His face if He were here now!"As for the rest of the movie, I will leave that to those who write in very clever and articulate language about character and plot development, cinematography, and such. I will say that I found no serious flaws in it, from the small amount I have learned of such things from reading many such reviews. I'm not sure why such illusory fare as Pulp Fiction becomes legendary, while a faithful rendering of human realities like The Third Miracle becomes a marginalized curiosity. Do we derive more inspiration from caricatures than from characterizations?

caspian1978 Ed Harris plays the coolest priest this side of Toronoto. Most films fail to capture the time period the story takes place at. Here, the production value is terrific. The 1940's and the 1970's is done so well that is look like archival footage. Ed Harris is beyond great. Not only does he portray a priest, but one that is tormented with reality and his faith in God. Heche plays an equal role that is done well. A typical role for her, she plays it like she is playing herself. As for Ed Harris, this is one of his best performances that was once again over looked by the critics. The surprise ending is just that, a surprise. Most if not all the audience will not see it coming. A good story, with great acting and an uplifting ending, the 3rd Miracle is a winner.

Roland E. Zwick `The Third Miracle' tackles much of the same subject matter as 1999's `Stigmata' but manages to do so without reducing it to the level of horror movie absurdity. The stories of both movies revolve around a doubting, questioning priest whose job it is to investigate and either certify or debunk purported instances of divine intervention. However, `The Third Miracle,' because it treats the material within the context of a serious drama, emerges as by far the more interesting of the two films. Ed Harris, in a solid performance, stars as the man whose job it is to verify these ostensible miracles but who, like most movie priests it seems, has come to question his faith and to doubt his own worthiness to even carry out the task. Anne Heche delivers her customary fine performance as the cynical daughter of the woman whose potential candidacy for canonization sets the plot in motion. Indeed, the film is at its most intriguing when it allows us to get a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes nuts-and-bolts machinations that the church uses in determining the viability of sainthood. We watch as the Catholic hierarchy treads the fine line between faith in supernatural intervention and the more worldly concerns of pragmatic politics. We see the petty jealousies, character attacks and power struggles that reduce even the most ethereal of ventures to the level of basic human frailty. In many ways, this broader conflict reflects the one which rages on a more intimate, personal level within the tortured psyche of Harris' character himself. It is his internal struggle between doubt and faith, between the physical and the spiritual, between strength and weakness that manages to keep the many strands of the plot together even when the film, at times, verges a bit on the banal and the tedious. Happily, too, the film does not succumb to the fashionable secular cynicism that is all too common in films today. `The Third Miracle' manages to explore the many-sided complexity of this issue without trashing the spiritual nature of the topic in the process. `The Third Miracle' is not by any stretch a great film, but it succeeds in exploring a tricky subject without insulting the intelligence of the audience along the way. After `Stigmata,' we offer our most humble thanks for that.