Film explores effects of faith

If you aren't watching CBS on the evening of Nov. 22, don't come crying to me about how television always ignores the deep importance of religion, the enduring value of families or the warm rewards of a living a virtuous life.

On that night, CBS will air "Saint Maybe," a two-hour TV movie based on the wonderful novel by Anne Tyler. It's one of the best novels of the last 50 years, and the film succeeds in bringing its core message to the screen.

"Saint Maybe" deals with fundamental topics, like the lingering pain of guilt, the healing power of forgiveness and the often forgotten step that lies between those two: taking responsibility for our actions, even when that responsibility involves self-denial.

Rash judgment

As a typical teenager whose life is focused on his own needs and desires -- to go to college, to marry his sweetheart, to get rich -- Ian doesn't imagine the consequences of his actions when he tells his brother Danny that the woman he has married is committing adultery.

That impetuous charge, made out of anger, leads to the deaths of Danny and his wife, who leave three children behind. Plagued by guilt about what he did, Ian wanders into a storefront church where he finds a way to put things right.

Making it right

It's difficult in these days of movies filled with special effects and crammed with violence to tell a story as sweet and simple as "Saint Maybe." But the screenwriter (Robert W. Lenski) and director (Michael Pressman) pull it off with the help of a powerhouse cast that includes Blythe Danner and Edward Herrmann as Ian's parents, Mary-Louise Parker as Danny's wife, and two sets of unknowns who play the orphans in youth and adulthood.

Rare points

* Actions have consequences; what we do counts;

* Genuine religion is an integral part of everyday life, not something worn only for Sundays and doffed after church -- and it helps people live better lives.

Ordinary life

The everyday life shown in "Saint Maybe" is our everyday lives: a mom who dusts, a dad who tinkers in the basement, a child who cries in a crib, a teen who dreams of a future far different from the one he chooses to live.

BY imbuing that ordinariness with great meaning, "Saint Maybe" tells us that how we decide to live has meaning for us and for others, so we should decide wisely.

Here's your first wise decision of the near future: Watch "Saint Maybe." Oh, and have a handkerchief nearby.

("Saint Maybe" airs on WRGB, channel 6, Nov. 22 at 9 p.m. I also recommend reading the novel on which it is based. It should be available from your library.)

(11-19-98)

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