How Saving Grace changed my life

The first time I saw Saving Grace was a good many years ago  when we had it as an exam in a Management Class to determine the desired values of a leader.

In my persistent effort to join The Philippine STAR’s quest for favorite movies., I exhausted all efforts to look for the vintage film. Luckily, I got a copy of the beta tape from a parish priest in a nearby municipality. I was told that it was recommended to him and his fellow priests for them to replicate the virtues of lead character Pope Leo II played by Italian actor Tom Conti.

The story begins when the Pope visits the mute girl Isabella, from the faraway village of Montepietra, to request Vatican to send a replacement for their priest. Their past priest had just resigned because he could no longer cope with the challenges of the enormous health, social and economic problems of their community. Isabella was asking the Pope to make a miracle, only to be told that he could not make any and that he could only pray for more.

A year later, however, an accident made the Pope step down from his ivory tower and find out how his people were faring beyond the walls of Vatican.

One afternoon, as he was doing some gardening in the courtyard, in his working outfit and his working hat, he finds himself locked out while chasing an important piece of paper which flew outside the gate.

It was fiction, though, that the staff could not detect that their Pope was missing, as they were then busy watching baseball on TV.

And so the Pope, revered by millions and visited by dignitaries, finds for himself how it is to live in the real world. First, there were the street demonstrators, the bums, the homeless and the hungry.

After walking miles and miles and hitchhiking with strangers, he finally reaches Montepietra where there  was supposed to be an epidemic and people were dying, not from the smallpox but due to some unscrupulous villagers taking advantage of the situation.

In the church, which was in ruins, unkempt and turned haven for pickpockets, Juliano and company snatch the Pope’s medallion. When they were giving it back to him after he has earned their confidence, the Pope tells them to keep it for future use.

Through Juliano and the mute girl Isabella, the pope meets scavengers in the dumpsites.

The Pope feels he is supposed to do something.

The last earthquake destroyed the aqueduct and the village went with it. The money to be used for the repair of the waterwheel was taken by the past parish priest. The pope’s concern now is to figure out how the project can be made functional again.

He was on it everyday, alone, trying to make something happen. Progress was slow, almost imperceptible, the work creeping along like a tortoise. All the while, the renegade priest (played by Fernando Rey) was watching him.

The priest  urges him to take it easy. But the Pope cannot turn away from the greatest challenge of his life. He enlists the villager’s help in digging the canal.

But just as the job was taking off, all the constraints come to the fore. They don’t have men, materials and money to repair the aqueduct. The men do not like to work with the women. Their parents do not want the boys to work. To top it all, insurgents threaten to burn the aqueduct once it’s built.

But the Pope promises to build the aqueduct again and again.

Although I’ve seen the movie many times over, the scenes towards the end always bring about  a tear or two (my test of a real good movie). As the villagers were dancing and making merry in anticipation of more bountiful harvests, one can see that they are a defeated people no more. They have conquered fear and saved themselves from apathy. They are now prepared for any adversity they may face in the years ahead. They are now equipped for life.

This movie makes me look back and count my blessings. I have been given the opportunity to serve the underprivileged and disadvantaged. What more can I ask for? My life has not been for naught.

As a manager, I was trained to think that the way to make positive things happen is to find the right help, set realistic goals and do what it takes to meet them. If you get turned down, ask again. If none of this helps, seek professional help (the renegade priest had engineering skills. He has since been reinstated by the Pope himself.) and make use of available resources.

I am sure our brother priests feel that the movie alludes to the life of the Source of our saving grace when He came to live with His children .

The disguised pope’s humility struck me most. He could have said he was pope  and there would not have been any story at all.

His prayerfulness is something to emulate. Before embarking on any undertaking, he would always pray for divine providence.

Beyond the management concepts and biblical references, the movie offers insights on how to take risks, assume responsibility for one’s actions, practise diiscipline in one’s work, stand firmly for what you beleive in and complete what you’ve started. Simply put, it’s giving your best in everything you do.

"To leave the world a bit better,

whether by a healthy child,

a garden patch,

a redeemed social condition,

or a job well done

To know even one other life has breathed easier

Because you have lived —

This is to have succeeded."

– Ralph Waldo Emerson