My housemate rented "Henry Poole is Here" and we spent Saturday evening quietly glued to the little telly in our living room, engrossed in the movie.

After the movie, I went online to read some reviews on the movie and found a great divide in the opinions - some found that it was too saccherine, too Hallmark-y, too much Biblical undertones; on the countary, others found it meaningful, well-scripted and well-acted.

I have mixed reactions to this movie. To me, it was a script that had a lot of potential, but had been taken to a bad direction by the filmmakers.



The skinny:

Henry Poole is dying. Utterly depressed, Poole abandones his previous life of luxury and materialistic pursuits and moves into his childhood neighbourhood with every intention of dying slowly, unnoticed and alone. Unfortunately, thanks to overzealous Latina neighbour Esperanza (interestingly, this name means "hope" in Spanish), Poole's dying wish is rudely disrupted when Esperanza thinks she sees an image of Christ on the Poole's stucco wall. The appearance of what looks like blood trickling from the 'eye' of the image confirms this miracle for Esperanza, who, through her extensive web of connections within the neighbourhood, turns Poole's backyard into a mini place of worship. Poole, already plagued with feelings of hopelessness and emptiness, reacts to this development with fierce objection, insisting that there is nothing 'miraculous' about this stained wall.

As the drama unfolds, various characters including Esperanza slowly gain the trust of Poole, who eventually, albeit reluctantly, agrees to put up with the fuss over his stucco wall. It is during this time when he finds companionship in the form of Dawn, a beautiful single mum with a daughter who has not spoken in a year due to trauma. Amidst all the 'miracles' that occured to people who touched his wall, things seem to look bright for Poole, until he becomes consumed once again by the stark realization that with his condition he will only bring despair to the people he had fallen in love with. Woven into this was an insight into Poole's early life, which seemed to mirror the unhappiness and lonliness he feels now that he is nearing the end of his life. Will the miracle of his stucco wall ever touch Poole?

My opinion?

Styling-wise, the movie possessed excellent cinematography and a good blend of music to accompany the beautifully-shot scenes. Unfortunately, the content was unable to do adequate justice to this.

Miracle or not, Christian or otherwise, at the end of the day I believe that what the movie should really be about is just the simple state of possessing hope. There are many miracles that exist even in the real world that we live in - religious statues that shed tears, for instance, or the existence of stigmatas, or mediums who claim to communicate with the unknown. However, more often than not, it is really your beliefs that shape the way you see reality. Poole lost all hope and had hence lost the ability to see his stucco wall as a symbol of hope like everyone did. Rather than being a moral-of-the-story kind of movie, it should one man's journey on his loss and discovery of the simple state of hopefulness.

Yet upon completing the movie, it does bag the question of just what direction the story was heading?

It is easy to see how many would view this as a movie with religious undertones. Indeed, on retrospect, the movie does seem to suggest that miracles in a Christian sense do occur. This may have been reinforced by the ending which the scriptwrite chose to take, where (highlight to reveal) Poole discovers that he did not have the terminal illness after all! Was it a delusion from the start, or did a miracle really take place? Despite my efforts in seeing this movie from a secular viewpoint, the scriptwriter's decision with the last bit seems to suggest that, yes, this is a Christian movie. To me, that last bit did not have to occur, as it took the movie into an supernatural direction which is unbefitting of such a movie. Had it stayed the way Poole had believed it to be, the simple fact of Poole accepting that miracles do exist and being at peace with himself would have been more meaningful.

Some of the messages of the story were also too blatantly delivered, as having key characters named as Esperanza (literally translates to "hope") and Patience. What parent gives their child the name Patience? Well, apparently there are - in Henry Poole's world, that is.

Nevertheless, the one thing that struck me the moment I finished the movie was this - Luke Wilson is wasted in comedies! Like what Patience said, she couldn't decide if Poole was angry or sad, or both. Indeed, Poole was neither angry or sad. Rather, from Luke Wilson's portrayal of the character, it was that of pain - deep emotional pain that lurked underneath the despair and emptiness he showed to the outside world.



In one of the best scenes, after a series of setbacks, Poole stood in front of his wall in the silence of the night, unable to bring himself to touch the wall. He finally breaks down in tears, his vulnerable state of mind clearly incapable of taking in and holding on to any form of hope or salvation. As the audience passively watch Poole as he navigates the last moments of his life, one cannot help but become deeply sympathetic to this man. In fact, perhaps being a nurturing female, I felt that urge to give Poole a tight squeeze and tell him that everything is going to be okay. That is perhaps where Dawn comes in, who accepts Poole, holding in all his sadness and helplessness unconditionally.

Verdict?

Worth a try, especially if you like challenging yourself and engaging in debates with your buddies about what really was the movie about. Otherwise, watch it for Luke Wilson's engaging performance.