Glenn Holsten's Saint of 9/11 documents the life of Franciscan monk Mychal Judge, who died during the attack on the World Trade Center. This man of the cloth led a full and varied life that involved him battling alcoholism, ministering to the first wave of AIDS victims in the '80s (Holsten himself was homosexual), and acting as a fire department chaplain in New York City. Narrarated by Sir Ian McKellen, the film interviews many people who witnessed Holsten's various selfless acts. ~ Perry
Seibert, Rovi
Tears and emotions flow freely through the film, which successfully captures a little of the original horror and raw, unpoliticized emotion of that beautiful late summer day.
Saint of 9/11, an unabashed tribute to Judge's life, struggles and Christian mission, does a good job of communicating what made Judge an inspiring figure to many, while making his life's work accessible and understandable.
You come away from this movie with a bracing recognition that grace and perfection don't always share the same corners of the soul -- which doesn't and shouldn't prevent you from doing good works for others.
This impressively mounted, feature-length eulogy for the courageous Franciscan friar who devoted his life to bringing peace, solace and reconciliation to all in need makes a compelling argument for canonization.
Father Mychal Judge was a Franciscan monk and New York Fire Department chaplain whose death at the World Trade Center on 9/11 was captured in a famous photograph. Since nobody should be known more for his death than his life, especially someone like Judge who cared for so many people, along comes "Saint of 9/11," an
anecdotal documentary to rectify that. Basically, it has the feel of a funeral mass as his friends and colleagues, along with those he tended to, plus two who only knew him postmortem, speak about how he touched their lives, as he tried to make the world a better place from Nothern Ireland(his parents are from Ireland and he always felt a connection to that place) to AIDS patients(he was a closeted gay man) in the early days of the epidemic. Archival footage is also used, including some of him preaching but not nearly enough. And if you're going to employ Ian McKellen to narrate, make sure to get your money's worth.
June 7, 2008
Walter M.
Super Reviewer
Beautiful documentary. A very holy man, dedicated his life to helping the poor of NYC, and the firemen of that city. He died in the twin towers horror. Oh, by the way, he was a gay man.
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