By PEGGY MOEN
Don’t be put off at the beginning of this movie — the language really is as crude as has been reported, and it comes in a relentless barrage, especially by the main character, Stuart Long, the future Fr. Stu, as played by Mark Wahlberg.
Its usage, however, does make sense, as the story unfolds, showing a man who is a boxer who wants to be an actor but is getting a little old for either profession. He moves from Montana to Hollywood, hoping to be discovered while he works in a supermarket.
His mother (played by Jacki Weaver) worries about him from Montana, doubting his chances for success – although Stu does get a role in a mop commercial. In Los Angeles, his estranged father (played by Mel Gibson) doesn’t see him in a favorable light either. The family had broken up sometime earlier.
It is said that nothing is worse than the death of a child, and this fractured family shared that devastating grief — Stu’s little brother died in childhood, years before the story’s timeframe.
That loss sets the theme for the movie, dealing with the problem of evil — how a God who is all good can allow innocent suffering, especially suffering with a long reach.
Stu, however, has the joy of falling in love with a young Hispanic woman, a Catholic whose beliefs and morals seems as alien to him as something from Jupiter. Carmen, the young woman, at first rejects him because he is not baptized. But as the story progresses, Stu is drawn in and joins the catechumens in Carmen’s parish.
Stu’s practice of the faith is awkward, ill-formed, and unconvincing, but he does begin to meditate on the crucifix — the ultimate innocent suffering.
Then, he is in a devastating motorcycle accident, where he realizes the presence of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Soon he begins to sense a call to the priesthood. He meets with Carmen to tell her the news. She is distraught because she had thought he was going to propose to her.
His plans for the priesthood, however, are soon under threat. Stu’s medical problems didn’t end with the motorcycle accident. He is diagnosed with an incurable progressive muscular disease, which seems to doom his chances for being ordained.
But his faith is rewarded, and he is ultimately ordained for the Diocese of Helena.
Rather than adding in any more plot spoilers, I would like to note that the movie portrays Church officialdom in a warmer light than the usual stereotypical portrait of harsh and legalistic dictators.
I saw the movie the afternoon of Easter Monday. The theater was about two-thirds full – not bad!
We may hope many more will see the movie. We can see the story of Fr. Stu as a sign of hope. The life of Stuart Long (the real-life Fr. Stu died in 2014 at age 50) could be a metaphor for our times, sunk into the abyss, but perhaps not hopeless after all.
As Stu learns and proclaims, some of the Church’s greatest saints — St. Matthew and St. Augustine among them — emerged from the depths to heroic sanctity.
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