Part parable, part fable, mostly real and altogether anchored in a warm, tense, touching, humorous tone, Michael McGowan's "Saint Ralph" unfolds in a world identifiable to the millions who attended parochial schools and Catholic high schools in the 1950s. It's set in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1953-54, but much of the experience is much more universal than that. In nailing down the time, writer-director McGowan is saying this was a time when North American Catholics were conscious of playing by the rules, respecting authority, minding their P's and Q's and receiving the sacraments regularly. The 14-year-old ninth-grader Ralph Walker (Adam Butcher) isn't so much a maverick as he is an incorrigible scamp -- sneak-smoking, stealing glances at cleavage, and responding a bit too impudently to an intolerant priest, the principal Father Fitzpatrick (Gordon Pinsent), who is a veteran disciplinarian. Ralph's lightly rebellious streak astonishes his red-haired tow-the-line friend Chester (Michael Kaney), intrigues pretty schoolgirl Claire Collins (Tamara Hope) and sparks understanding in a liberal young priest, Father Hibbert (Campbell Scott). Although everyone knows Ralph's widowed mom, Emma (Shauna MacDonald), is hospitalized because of cancer, few realize that the boy is living at home unsupervised when he isn't with Chester. Ralph has mislead the priests with the lie that his (late) grandparents are at home caring for him. When Emma slips into a long-range coma, Nurse Alice (Jennifer Tilly) says, "The doctors are saying it will take a miracle to wake her up." The cross-country-running Ralph links a number of individually accurate perceptions and concludes that if he were to win the 1954 Boston Marathon, such a "miracle" would cure his mother. Father Fitzpatrick admonishes him severely for the "sacrilege," but to Ralph the quest is bound up in such issues as guilt, atonement and firm purpose of amendment along with a dread of losing his mother and becoming an orphan. Sacrificially hard training is to Ralph a key to spiritual redemption and a bargaining with God. It's faith as he experiences it. Moments in "Saint Ralph" may seem overstated for audiences accustomed to the style of screenwriting in the period represented. Responses may be quite varied to recurring appearances by Santa Claus, whom you may take to be a manifestation of the boy's late war-hero father. The sentiments may be familiar. The values dramatized have become all too unfamiliar. There's one scene that makes the film unsuitable for children. but the picture has much to recommend for teens and older audiences. Additional Information:

Review

'Saint Ralph' Critic's rating: Director : Michael McGowan Stars: Adam Butcher, Campbell Scott, Jennifer Tilly MPAA rating: PG-13 for some sexual content and partial nudity Now playing: Manor in Squirrel Hill

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