A RUMOR OF ANGELS

REVIEWED BY CHARITY BISHOP

Our rating: 3 out of 5

Because of: foul language

Rated:

I used to be a big fan of Peter O'Fallon's show Mysterious Ways when it ran on NBC and Pax. The hour-long programs were always about unusual happenings... miraculous healings, unexpected twists of the supernatural. Ghosts, angels, heavenly intervention, and a few just plain weird happenings. Fish falling out of the sky, incredible coincidences -- it was a wonderful program full of vivid imagination and often touching conclusions. A Rumor of Angels attempts to follow along the same path, but with less success. I think that had the theology not been off whack and the language toned down, I might have actually enjoyed it.

James Neubauer (Trevor Morgan) is a troubled teen still grieving over the loss of his mother four years before. The scene of the accident still haunts him -- the bridge, still closed for repairs, brings back painful memories. He covers up this pain by being something of a loner. His stepmother (Catherine McCormack) doesn't know what to do with him. His druggie uncle can offer no solution and his workaholic father is largely absent from his life. Then he meets Mrs. Maddy Bennett (Vanessa Redgrave), the strange old crone who lives in a cabin on the gulf. The kids in town regard her as a witch and claims she talks to the dead. The townspeople pretty much ignore her. But when James breaks her fence one night, Maddy demands he show up to repair it.

Forced to take responsibility, James is unable to worm his way out of it... particularly when Maddy herself comes out to oversee the work. Strangely enough, through a series of little events in which James becomes intrigued by the old woman, the two become friends. Maddy too is grieving... for she lost her husband and her only son in the war. She claims that he still talks to her now and again through a flickering light off the coast. James, hoping he can send a message to his mother by the angels, begins to learn Morse Code so that he too might send messages out into the darkness. But then his stepmother learns of this process of grieving and puts a stop to it. Has their strange friendship come to an end? Is there any truth in Maddy's messages from the heavens?

Touching as the premise may be, A Rumor of Angels is actually fairly predictable with little to surprise or excite. The story has been told before and better -- an outsider befriends a loner and the two become fast friends. I enjoyed this type of story the most in the slow-moving and tragic Swept from the Sea, although Hallmark too has tackled a similar plot with fine results. I don't know why, but this film failed to grab me. It moves at a measured pace and doesn't always do well in explaining who everyone is. The ending is easily foreseen, as is the plot twist midway through. It's not up to the standard I'm used to seeing from Peter O'Fallon.

Above all, I was very disappointed in the language. Everyone except Maddy has a mouth that would do well to be washed out with soap. James curses at his stepmother, his father, his uncle, and even Maddy, who gives him a sound slap in return. The language doesn't include any extremes (two muffled abuses of Jesus' name) but the s-word is thrown around a lot, along with general profanity. There is some violence -- a convertible swerves off the road and overturns, leaving a body in the center of the bridge. Thematic elements involve someone's near drowning and a heart attack. James refuses to obey his parents and his uncle mentions having once grown pot in the backyard.

The storyline also asks us to believe 'angels' are in fact people who have died. Maddy claims to have been sent messages from her son the night he died in Vietnam. I don't know why, but I just didn't feel that the plot was strong or engaging enough to rise to merit above the flaws. Many people love this film for its touching elements of learning to deal with grief, and believing that there is life after death. Fortunately, as Christians we know that there are angels, and they're not 'recycled humans' but rather servants of God. God does send us messages sometimes to tell us that someone is happy or okay, but they're rarely sent in Morse Code from an empty house.

© www.charitysplace.com - all rights reserved.