Swank keeps the faith in Manitoba-filmed family drama

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This article was published 23/02/2024 (594 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Though the movie Ordinary Angels was filmed in Manitoba in the early spring of 2022, it might as well take place on a different planet.

It’s set in 1994 in Kentucky, pre-Obamacare. That’s an important point to make because the movie is about a decent, blue-collar guy, Ed Schmitt (Alan Ritchson), who has already endured the death of his wife, and is trying to keep his head above financial ruin when his five-year-old daughter Michelle (Emily Mitchell) also becomes mortally ill and in need of a liver transplant.

The medical bills are piling up. Ed’s job as a roofer is not as lucrative as it could be, even in tornado-prone Kentucky. Ed’s mom (Nancy Travis) and older daughter Ashley (Skywalker Hughes) do what they can to help.

Enter Sharon Stevens (Hilary Swank), a hearty-partying hairdresser. Initially, the only thing heroic about Sharon is her tequila consumption in her first scene.

She has issues, which will be revealed slowly over the course of the film, like a prolonged character development strip-tease. But she sees a path to personal redemption when she hears about Ed’s predicament and resolves to help his family out, first by organizing a hair-dressing marathon, then by becoming a world-class buttinsky.

But in order to really help others, she will need to help herself. (When she gets off the sauce, she starts consuming the state drink of Mountain Dew, which is almost as upsetting as seeing her swig straight vodka. If you know, you know. Google “Kentucky” and “Mountain Dew.”)

Still, Swank sells it without ever getting overwrought with the material. Has any actress cut as wide a swath through the tapestry of American womanhood as Hilary Swank?

Ritchson enjoys a nice break from his breakthrough role as the titular ass-kicker on the Amazon Prime series Reacher. In that context, when Ritchson gets a look of grim resolution on his face, it’s usually a prelude to baroque bloodshed.

Here, he successfully modulates it to portray collapsing religious faith.

It’s all very well done. Jon Gunn has credits on more conspicuous religious films (The Case for Christ, Do You Believe?) but he keeps the godly messaging to a minimum. One has to respect a nominally Christian film that features REM’s Losing My Religion on its soundtrack.

Still, there is a niggling irritation at the film’s Christian message celebrating patience, community and stoic determination in the face of catastrophe.

That’s all very well. But one is reminded by director Nick Cassavetes’s presence in Winnipeg (prepping Bruno Penguin and the Staten Island Princess) of his 2002 film John Q, which starred Denzel Washinton as a father who took an emergency room hostage in a desperate bid to save the life of his son, also in need of a transplant.

As extreme as that might have been, it seems more rational in the face of a system that places ruthless profit above health care. What’s so Christian about stoically maintaining that depraved status quo?

• • •

Local talent gets a chance to shine. If you like Sharon’s fringed vest and “sparkly” skirt, credit Winnipeg costume designer Heather Neale. Local actors include Stephanie Sy as a newscaster, Erik Athavale as a doctor, and an especially delightful Jan Skene, who has a nice moment as a secretary who forcefully gets her boss to toe the line.

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