Religion can be a tricky topic to navigate when two people interact with each other. If the people share two distinctly different views it generally devolves into an argument (at best) and chaos (at worst). There are people who are devout religious followers who can't understand how someone could deny the presence of a god. There are people who think anyone who believes in god are crazy. Then there is a huge group of people in the middle whose views vary- this would include your agnostics, and people who believe in a god but don't necessarily buy everything that is said to them. The problem is that the two polar opposite sides usually shout the loudest and drown out the majority in the middle. The funny part is most people would agree that some doubt and question in faith is not necessarily a bad thing. Henry Poole is Here takes a look at how diametrically different positions on religion can collide simply by viewing (or not viewing) a vision of the Lord on a stucco wall.
Henry Poole (Luke Wilson, doing a great job here) has recently received some depressing news. His doctor has diagnosed him with a rare terminal disease (they never mention what it is) and he only has a short time left to live. He makes the decision to buy a tract home in the neighborhood where he grew up and live out his remaining days drinking vodka and eating frozen pizza. His Latina neighbor is a bit of a nuisance to him as she keeps popping up and disturbing the peace he craves. Also, the little girl next door tapes all the conversations she hears as she has not talked in quite some time. Her mother (Radha Mitchell) is a single mom just hoping that one day her daughter starts talking again, as she has not spoken since her father left for good.
One day the Latina neighbor returns and swears that she sees the image of Jesus Christ himself on the stucco of the walls outside Poole's house. Henry blows her off and asks her to stay off his property. All he is searching for is a quiet place to shut out the rest of the world and spend the remaining days he has left in a quiet solitude. But then the water stain on his stucco begins bleeding and his neighbor Esperanza is convinced that this is actually the Lord himself. Before long, she is leading pilgrimages to his backyard and inviting Father Salazar (George Lopez, doing very well in an understated role) from the local parish to bless the supposedly sacrosanct blemish. Poole is appalled by all this- and why shouldn't he be. He has been given a death sentence. He doesn't have time for God or whatever miracles he is trying to perform. Poole remains skeptical in the face of every person in his block flocking to the site.
Then the young cashier from the supermarket comes to the house and touches the wall. Once she does she has no need for her thick glasses anymore as she can now see perfectly. This starts to crack Poole's facade. Then the young girl from next door touches the wall and suddenly she can talk again. Poole strikes up the beginnings of a relationship with the mom and suddenly he wishes he had more time. That only means one thing. At this point science can't save him (so he thinks). Esperanza and him have a pretty poignant discussion where she accuses him of being afraid to touch the wall because it means he believes in the power of something he doesn't want to believe in. He insists that she needs him to touch the wall because it makes her faith stronger. His argument touches on the fallacy that sometimes permeates into the arguments by deeply religious people. Many believe that because they have faith that everyone should have faith and they are only, "trying to help." But in that longing to help they are trying to solidify their own beliefs. If someone else can be brought into the fold it means that the very thing they've devoted their life too is valid. It's where the whole debate between science and religion intertwine. Science is valid, religion is not. And I say that as a person who has been a practicing Christian his entire life. It doesn't mean I disavow my faith. It simply means that religion is not a paradigm where one can point to absolutes. Faith and believing is a state of mind. But it's one that is deeply personal to the individual. That goes for anyone who practices in a church to just someone who claims themselves to just be "spiritual."
Henry eventually succumbs to Esperanza and touches the wall and immediately feels like all the weight he has carried in his life is gone. Somewhere deep down too he thinks that he is cured. However, just when things seem to be picking up for him- the little girl next door hears him and the mom talk about Henry's dying and decides to be quiet again. This is the last straw for Henry. He lashes out at the people who are gathered in his backyard and tells them that their faith is silly. He tears into the wall with a sledgehammer destroying the image. In the process though he takes out a pillar on the porch and part of the house collapses on him sending him to the hospital. I won't tell you how it ends because I think you should experience that, but I will say that the movie sort of takes the cowards way out and doesn't leave the ending ambiguous when it deserved to be that way.
Additionally, I don't know that I ever saw the face in the wall in the film. Director Mark Pellington (the very underrated Arlington Road) takes great pains to never show the face straight on at the beginning. As it moves towards the end we get more shots of the wall but the image is not clear. The thing with seeing any of these appearances is that you see what you want to see. Esperanza is deeply religious so the image gets turned into the face of Jesus. But really, no one has ever seen Jesus. All we have to go on are the vague descriptions of people who may or may not be embellishing things. Henry doesn't see the face. Is it because he lacks faith or is it because it's not really there? He thinks its the result of a poor stucco job which is completely plausible. Again though- your answer will depend on how you enter the film.
The biggest problem with this film though is that it feels too cutesy at times. Like it's trying to hard. The names are groan inducing. The discussions can get heavy handed, and it's odd that an attractive single mother would be so attracted to a sad sack loner who is trying to kill himself faster than the disease is. But there are good performances here and if you can stand the religious discussions this is a film that has its moments. It could've been more though, and that's the most depressing part. For a majority of this film this works as a piece that could emotionally touch believers, agnostics, and atheists alike. The film isn't trying to draw a line int eh sand about religious beliefs. It doesn't distinguish them as real. It does distinguish belief as a real aspect of our mental beings. Whatever that belief may be....
SO TO RECAP...
At the hour mark I had real high hopes for this film and saw it settling into the 3 and a half to 4 star range. However, the last half hour takes a violent turn and the ending is just one big cinematic cheat. I wanted to like this film because for a while it moves the needle on discussions about religion. In the end though it chooses sides and I didn't need it to do that.
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