Father Stu

A biographical film drawn from a real life. Stuart Long is an amateur boxer. An injury to his jaw ends his fighting and he goes to Los Angeles to try acting. He works in a supermarket and takes an interest in a woman; she is Catholic and because of her he starts going to church. Then he has a serious motorcycle accident. Afterwards he makes a decision: he will become a priest. Nobody believes it. His family objects, the church hesitates because of his past, and he is the least suitable person in the seminary. While he is training he is diagnosed with an illness: an untreatable condition that progressively takes away the use of his muscles. The subject is obstinacy as much as faith. Stuart is unsuitable at every stage and goes all the way anyway. Mark Wahlberg plays Stuart; he carried the project for years and produced it. Mel Gibson plays his father and Jacki Weaver his mother. Rosalind Ross directed; her first film. A solid example for anyone who likes drama based on true stories. For a viewer who wants restraint, the film raises its emotional pitch in the last section.