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Film review: 'Entertaining Angels' (Hollywood Reporter - October
10, 1996)
By
Michael Rechtshaffen
According to an early Bruce Springsteen song, it's hard to be a saint in the
city. That sentiment could apply to Depression-era human-rights activist Dorothy
Day.
While the former newspaper reporter and Greenwich Village Bohemian would have
quickly shrugged off her saintly status, she nevertheless served as a credited
inspiration for the likes of Mother Teresa, John F. Kennedy and Abbie Hoffman.
Producer Ellwood Kieser has added his name to Day's list of admirers with the
release of "Entertaining Angels: The Dorothy Day Story." In many ways
"Angels" emulates his acclaimed 1988 production "Romero,"
which chronicled the life of El Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero and was also
directed by Michael Rhodes.
Rich in period detail and featuring an impassioned lead performance by Moira
Kelly, this handsome film appears to have undergone some heavy editing, which
has unfortunately resulted in a heavily truncated, frustratingly hard-to-follow
story line. Despite all the good intentions, the picture lacks a satisfying
dramatic arc that would have done justice to its title character's fascinating
life.
We first see Day (Kelly in some rather unconvincing old-age makeup), during the
1960s, sitting in a jail cell after being arrested at a ban-the-bomb protest.
The story then goes back almost half a century when Day was an idealistic and
determined newspaper reporter who hung with the likes of Eugene O'Neill and
Floyd Dell, engaging in barroom debates and other typical Greenwich
Village-in-the-Roaring Twenties behavior.
However, a failed romance and subsequent abortion leaves Day searching for
direction in her life. Even a more nurturing relationship with Forster Batterham
(Lenny Von Dohlen), which produces a daughter, disintegrates when he can't
commit to marriage.
Finding a purpose in organized religion, Day addresses Depression-era poverty
and suffering by moving to the Lower East Side and starting a newspaper - The
Catholic Worker - with a boat-rocking approach that becomes a thorn in the side
of a cardinal (Brian Keith). Undeterred and spurred on by French-Canadian mentor
Peter Maurin (Martin Sheen), Day opens her cramped apartment to the homeless.
She would continue to crusade for human rights up until 1980, when she died at
age 83.
Kelly has the right period look and an admirable, feet-on-the-ground commitment
that keeps her character rooted in flesh-and-blood reality and fallibility,
rather than opting for a loftier, Gandhi-type interpretation. The rest of the
performances are equally respectable, although Sheen's colorful take on the
seemingly inexhaustible Maurin falls just short of hammy.
Given the obvious chopping in the editing room, it's hard to blame the film's
episodic nature on the original script, penned by "ER's" John Wells.
There is enough care given to aspects of character and dialogue to suggest that
there was once more than ultimately meets the eye.
Visually, "Angels" is faultless, thanks to impressive work from
cinematographer Mike Fash ("The Whales of August") and production
designer Charles Rosen ("My Favorite Year," "Taxi Driver").
That it achieves its rich look on a very modest budget is an example of
industriousness that Dorothy Day, who dedicated a life to finding the means
where none seemed to exist, would have applauded.
 
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