Saving Grace (1985 film)

Saving Grace
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Robert M. Young
Produced by	Herbert F. Solow
Written by	Richard Kramer David S. Ward (as Joaquin Montana)
Based on	the Novel by Celia Gittelson
Starring	Tom Conti Fernando Rey Erland Josephson Giancarlo Giannini Donald Hewlett Patricia Mauceri Marta Zoffoli Edward James Olmos
Edited by	Thomas Stanford
Production company	Embassy Pictures
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date	May 2, 1986
Running time	112 min.
Language	English
Box office	$18,209

Saving Grace is a 1986 film produced by Herbert F. Solow, directed by Robert M. Young and starring Tom Conti, Giancarlo Giannini and Edward James Olmos. It is based on a novel by Celia Gittelson with screenplay by Richard Kramer and David S. Ward under a different name.

It was the last film to be distributed from Avco Embassy Pictures.

A year after his election, a youthful Pope (Conti) longs to be involved in ordinary people’s lives again, as he was when he was a priest.

During an audience, the Pope communicates with a deaf mute young girl whose village has no priest. Accidentally locked out of the Vatican, the Pope travels to the small impoverished and demoralized village, his identity concealed by his beard growth. He realizes that the people need to rebuild a dilapidated aqueduct but, more importantly, that they must regain their community spirit and self-sufficiency. Without expertise and, initially, only the help of some street-wise orphans, he starts construction. All this is watched skeptically by a mysterious neighbour played by Giannini and opposed by local thugs led by Ciolino (Olmos) whose ill-gotten gains depend on the village remaining overly dependent on outsiders.

Although this movie is often classified as a comedy, it has serious themes, including what it takes for a community to develop resilience and how redemption occurs. The "cry" "heard" from a mute girl for a priest in her village comes at a time when the young Pope is going through a spiritual crisis. When he locks himself out of his lofty Vatican world, he makes his way to Montepetra (Mount of Peter, or stone) and begins to grasp his true vocation again by challenging tyranny and helping return water (baptismal grace) to the community to restore their strength. In Christian thought, there is always sacrifice of those who initially resist, then come by grace. It is a saving grace, as even the most skeptical of the community discover.

The movie was shot in Italy: in the cities of Rome, Mantua and the ghost town of Craco.