(c)1998 eric lurio
Wide Awake
written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan
One would expect the location. What better place to look for God than in a Catholic school, right? However, it doesn't work that way at all.
As the film opens, Joshua Beal (Joseph Cross) is about to enter the fifth grade. He's heavily into sleeping, and his parents (Denis Leary and Dana Delaney) literally have to drag him out of bed. There is a reason for this, we soon learn...
Joshua's Grandpa (Robert Loggia) has recently died, and the kid's depressed. He's shown in flashback as a caring and religious fellow who was very close to our hero.
Not understanding how God could allow such a terrible thing could happen, Josh decides to go on a quest of sorts, and find God for himself...
But regular life must go on,of course, and we have a surprisingly affectionate portrait of life among the nuns.
What's interesting here is how theology-free this quest is. The only mention of Catholic ideology we really have is at the beginning when Sister Terry (Rosie O'Donnell) gives out a homework assignment, and Josh asks her if the nonbaptised are all really going to hell as mentioned in the workbook.
Director Shyamalan actually gives us a pretty good portrait of the fifth grade. The kids are all good, especially Timothy Reifsnyder who plays Josh's best friend Dave O'Hara and Heather Casler as his first crush. But there's something not right here.
If Josh's parents seem to think that his quest is so unusual, why are they sending him to CATHOLIC school? 'Tis a puzzelment.
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