Saint of 9/11 (2006) User Reviews

Moving documentary about one truly good man

[dbborroughs · 8/10 · 19 September 2006]

The life of Franciscan Friar Mychal Judge is celebrated in this moving documentary. Mychal Judge was New York City Fire Department Chaplin and he died on the collapse of the Twin Towers. More a friendly look back at the man than a deep probing expose this is the kind of memorial that everyone of us would love to get but very few of use do, and even less of us deserve. There is no doubt that Judge deserves it. Here is a man who ministered to not only the firemen of New York but also the sick, the homeless and the outcast. He did what he felt was the right thing no matter how the church felt simply because he "knew" thats what Christ would have done. Its a wonderful story told mostly by his friends with a little assist from Ian McKellan as the narrator and the voice of Father Judge.

If the film has any flaw its simply that its too in love with its subject. He is, for lack of a better term, a saint with almost no flaws. Anything that might be considered a flaw, say his alcoholism or his homosexuality, are beaten back with a mere waive of his hand, or so it seems. Its a nice thing to celebrate the man, but his "perfection" becomes trying.

Still this is a very good documentary. If you need proof that not all men are evil, this is the film to see.

An American Saint

[mrjaws75-1 · 9/10 · 11 June 2007]

This is a really touching and inspirational movie. The guy was a saint, and not just because of the way he died. This film shows how truly Christian this man was: kissing and cradling AIDS patients in his arms back when health care professionals were wearing gloves and masks around them, staging peace marches through violence-torn Northern Ireland, handing out valuable gifts that he'd just been given to more needy people he encountered in the streets, and much more.

Why don't more people know about this man? Why hasn't the Vatican put his cause on the fast track to sainthood? So he wrestled with his demons...but in that sense, he's no different than any other saint. And evidently, he won these private battles, daily. America needs to be reminded that you don't have to minister to Untouchables in Calcutta to be a contemporary saint. We've got Mychal Judge, Dorothy Day, and Thomas Merton who emerged right from our own back yard. It's a shame that more people don't know about them.

This movie is on DVD, and I highly recommend it. My only frustration is that it doesn't have more archival footage of him. But why would it? He went about his virtuous business anonymously. As the movie says, "he wasn't a hero, he was just doing his job." Hopefully, they'll make a dramatized movie of his life so he'll get more exposure. John Mahoney HAS to play him.

A Living Saint (who was, in fact, Gay)

[mychalsprayer · 9/10 · 22 August 2007]

Father Mychal Judge's self-identity as a gay man was a crucial motivation for his remarkable outreach to other outcasts of society.

Despite a handful of deniers, the evidence that Fr. Mychal Judge self-identified as gay, though chaste and celibate, is irrefutable. For a discussion of the conclusive facts, visit http://SaintMychalJudge.blogspot.com (then click "Gay Saint" at the top).

Most of the world first heard of Fr. Mychal Judge on September 11, 2001. Yet even prior to his heroic death, Mychal was widely seen by many New Yorkers as a living saint for his deep spirituality and his extraordinary work with the homeless, recovering alcoholics, people with AIDS, immigrants, gays and lesbians, and other social outcasts.

Mychal's saintliness was not one of outward piety, though he did have an intimate relationship with God. Nor did he march in lockstep with the church hierarchy. Like his spiritual father, St. Francis of Assisi, Mychal reported to a Higher Authority.

Mychal's sainthood was in his unconditionally loving presence with all he encountered -- with heavy doses of playful humor thrown in. This is well portrayed by the film.

"Saint of 9/11" is powerfully inspiring but not sappy. It focuses more on his life than his death. Unfortunately, its 80 minutes can only begin to scratch the surface of his remarkable story. Viewers may also want to read Michael Ford's biography, "Father Mychal Judge: An Authentic American Hero."

Inspiring portrait of Father Mychal Judge

[carissad · 10/10 · 1 May 2006]

I was lucky enough to catch this film at the Tribeca Film Festival in its 2nd ever showing. This is a beautifully well-done documentary showing the life of Father Mychal Judge. From his time growing up in Brooklyn to his death on 9/11/01, we are shown what made this man.

I think it's safe to say that most of us first heard of Father Mychal after 9/11. But he had done so much up until that fateful day that most of the public didn't know. Whether it was ministering to people with AIDS during a time when most didn't want anything to do with them or giving a coat to a homeless person on his way home, everything Father Mychal did stemmed from love.

I found this movie to be inspiring and full of love and hope. I think it's a must-see. :)

"Knowing Father Judge was like knowing Jesus"

[kmw1962 · 10/10 · 8 September 2006]

This quote comes from a Fransiscan Brother for whom Father Mychal Judge was a mentor.

The people interviewed for this documentary are not the erudite, intelligent and moral but for the most part the dregs of society, the lost souls and the outcasts. Sure NYFD guys and fellow priests are there but the stories told about him in this film are mostly by drunks, addicts, the homeless, sick and the poor.

This film is a reminder of what being a Christian is actually about without the preaching and proselytizing. While 9/11 is featured at the beginning of this film and again toward the end (Father Mychal held a Mass for many NY Firefighter on September 10 from which most of the film of him as a priest is taken), the documentary is really about a man and his works.

One of the best documentaries I have ever seen

[LaurieDuncan · 10/10 · 29 August 2006]

I saw this film last week at the Montreal film festival. I had to drag my husband because he was afraid it would be sappy. We were both extremely moved by the story and loved the film. The director did an excellent job in telling the story of Mychael Judge's life. He had a lot of great footage and interviews with many of the people who knew Judge well. I always walk out of a film and think what I would have done differently, but there is not one thing I would have changed. I predict this will get a nomination for an Oscar for Best Documentary this year. For people who avoided seeing United 93 because you were afraid or not ready to revisit what happened on 9/11, do not miss this film for that reason. There is some discussion and footage about 9/11, but most of the film deals with the life of this priest. It is very moving and inspirational. This is a film I would recommend to everyone.

Response to Conventional Piety

[Ecclesia2 · 10/10 · 8 August 2008]

"Conventional Piety" makes some serious charges about Fr. Mychal Judge. I hope the editors will either allow me to respond, or delete his post (which has nothing to do with the film).

First, we do not know if Fr. Judge did or did not address alleged discrimination in the FDNY. Piety's comments are pure speculation. What we do know is that Fr. Judge publicly stood up for a black family who had moved into Rochelle Park, NJ in the late 60's, while he was pastor of Sacred Heart. As a result of his outspokenness for justice, enough people complained that the archdiocese removed him as pastor. (Michael Ford biography of MJ). He is described as "never having a racist bone in his body."

Second, as FDNY chaplain, Fr. Judge traveled all over the city at all hours of the day and night, often responding to emergencies. "Setting his own schedule" went along with the job, and that schedule was usually 16-18 hours a day.

Then "Conventional Piety" charges that Fr. Judge was "a disobedient priest" with "a unique spiritual vision." By every account, Judge's only disagreement with the official church was over the issue of same-gender relationships, which makes him neither disobedient nor unique among priests. Judge asserted the primacy of his conscience, a duty which goes back to the early church. Read Aquinas.

Finally, Conventional Piety mentions that Judge was an alcoholic and homosexual without mentioning that he was sober for 23 years, and celibate.

If this poster had actually viewed the film, Saint of 9/11, he'd know this. But frankly, it sounds like he has a personal ax to grind against Fr. Judge.

Have a cup of tea and sing a song, and we can find some peace and u

[lastliberal-853-253708 · 11 September 2011]

By their fruits ye shall know them. (Matt 7:16)

One does not have to have a sign from heaven that a man is a saint. Their whole lives are a sign of sainthood. Father Mychal Judge was such a man.

He gave all he had every day. Every dime went to the poor, the homeless, those who had nothing. He was a beloved minister to the spiritual needs of his flock.

In the middle of the AIDS crisis, when others would treat patients like they had the plague, he would come up to them and kiss them, and minister to their needs. He found a calling with those who were shunned even by their church.

This is an incredible story of an incredible man - a true saint.

Conventional Piety

[dquaranta-1 · 3/10 · 27 May 2008]

Mychal Judge was a disobedient priest who got so big that his order couldn't discipline him. Franciscans generally aren't their own boss, especially men who are both alcoholic and homosexual. Fr. Mychal went where he wanted, spent money the way he wanted, and set his own schedule doing whatever he pleased.

If Fr. Mychal had really been a friend to black people, he might have used his office as Fire Department chaplain to address discrimination in hiring in the lily-white FDNY. There's a real moral issue there, especially since so many of New York's firefighters don't live in New York. He wouldn't have been quite so popular if he'd shown some genuine spiritual leadership.

He's a hero of our distinctly unheroic times. I don't expect the Vatican to put a rush on canonizing him. They don't often do that for people with a unique spiritual vision that's at odds with Church teaching.

Gay Propiganda

[JFogliasso · 1/10 · 28 January 2007]

This film was a major letdown. I rented it with high hopes that it would actually portray a faithful Catholic priest in a positive role. Rather, the film concentrates heavily on the ALLEGED homosexual orientation of Fr. Judge. According to the site HTTP://www.catholic.org/featured/ headline.php?ID=19 Fr. Judge was not homosexual at all.

Since the orientation of this man is in question it would make sense to concentrate on his public life and all the good he did, which the movie makers do for the first 50 or so minutes. The second half of the film is nothing more than gay propaganda. (I don't mind it so bad but they need to be straight, no pun intended, on their motives with the film.

death and the doc film

[Bwedner · 8 December 2008]

This film is a clear example of faith, healing, and mourning in practice. Interpreted through the cinematic language and style of the film, which is non-sync and non linear, Mychal was a man who could see through many contradictions. As a gay man and religious supporter, he was predominate religious figure in the 80's, for loving and accepting AIDS victims in a time when most are plagued with shame and had been forsaken. He supported gays when the church had abandoned them. He was a man who was not afraid to go against logic. Contrary to conventional story telling, Glenn Holsten also defies logic in her editing and arrangement of the film. Assuming there was nothing wrong with the print I saw, her arrangement of edits is dysfunctional. The audio track seems intact, where as the video jumps around, and suggests a certain level of subjectivity and displacement. Where most people might change the channel or turn the movie off, the importance and beauty of what is being said outweighs your vision and keeps your attention.

There are many films that are considered documentaries of death, such as tributes to famous rockers, or historical films on concentration camps, or even studies on religious after life practices. "Recording death or documenting the act of dying can be a sensitive one. A filmmaker walks a thin line between a cathartic experience and exploitation." Renov explains. If films like Saint of 9/11 bring resolution or comfort to people who share a similar loss, or affection, the act of mourning will bring about positive change. " The camera incites, records, and preserves these sustained efforts to speak the most unspeakable of losses." It is with memories of loss, love, and sorrow that a person can feel very vulnerable. There is a fine line filmmakers walk when giving a face to a biography of death. Capturing body language in the vulnerable state of silence, the camera now becomes an objective viewer, like the liberated soul of Hinduism. Speaking about a personal interview with a former SS member, "Something like the holocaust changes a person in a way that it's impossible to retreat back into the free and uninhibited ego." Renov addresses predominantly films that respond to private or familial sorrows, but told in a way that implicates others. In his best summery of his thoughts on death and the documentary, Renov states, "In regards to the world of mourning, cinema and video possesses a remarkable potential for creating new therapeutic communities, joined by bereavement, loss, and the need for healing." There are new potentials with moving image and sync sound, before unknown with literature. The medium can better serve a direct path into the lives of others. We do not imagine, but watch and listen to the resolution of death manifest in another, which is the only way after all one can experience death in life.