The Healer

Alec lives in London under a pile of debt, unable to finish anything he starts. An uncle he has never met offers to clear it on one condition: that he live for a year in a small coastal town in Nova Scotia. There he learns he has inherited a gift for healing, and he does not believe a word of it. He meets a girl undergoing cancer treatment. The subject is not the miracle but what a non-believer does with other people's belief. The film does not open an argument about whether the gift is real; it hangs the real question on whether the man will take the responsibility. The form is warm and predictable. The town is charming, the supporting characters are helpful, the emotional knots come undone in order. The target audience was always families. The real story sits outside the frame. The director, Paco Arango, is a producer who founded the Aladina Foundation for children in cancer treatment in Spain, and he donated the whole of this film's net proceeds. The American revenue goes to SeriousFun Children's Network, founded by Paul Newman, and the sum raised is measured in millions. Oliver Jackson-Cohen leads, with Camilla Luddington and Jonathan Pryce in the cast. Who it is for: viewers who like well-meaning, sentimental family films. Who it is not for: anyone after narrative craft; as cinema the film is ordinary and does not hide it.