Her
passion gave them hope. Her
commitment changed their lives.
1996 – 110 minutes
Dorothy
Day is not saint. She lives hard,
makes mistakes, endures the consequences. But
the unquenchable fire burning within her cannot be contained.
Dorothy wants to make a difference.
During the Depression, she vows to house the homeless, feed the hungry,
tend to the sick. Easily said.
Not easily done when her total finances amount to 97 cents in a battered
canister. Yet Dorothy persists,
walking on frequently stormy waters of faith.
Popular stars and important theme combine
in this compelling true story of the “American Mother Teresa,” filmed
by Paulist Pictures (Romero) from a script by ER write and executive producer
John Wells. Moira Kelly plays Day, the impassioned New York journalist
who launched the activist newspaper Catholic Worker and put the words she wrote
into controversial action. Martin
\Sheen, Melinda Dillon and Brian Keith join Kelly in this moving saga of a faith
not just believed, but lived.
Reverential
yet reductive biopic chronicling the life of the influential Roman Catholic
human-rights activist Dorothy Day. Day (Moira Kelly) began her career as a
newspaper journalist covering the plight of the Depression-era working class.
She later co-founded the Communist monthly The Catholic Worker, opened
dozens of halfway houses and became an outspoken advocate of women's rights --
all the while remaining an active member of the Catholic Church. It's worthy
material, and Moira Kelly delivers a solid performance as one of this century's
lesser-known feminist trailblazers. But the movie is oddly unwilling to explore
the contradictions between doctrine and politics in any great depth. The film's
structure is awkwardly episodic, each phase of Dorothy's career presented as a
discrete dilemma punctuated by a statement of moral purpose; this is, without
doubt, a message film, meant to be easily digested. Executive producer Ellwood
"Bud" Kieser, founder of Paulist Productions and himself a Paulist
monk, helped create TV's long-running inspirational anthology series
"Insight," and much of what transpires here bears that Sunday-morning
feel.
Director: Michael Ray Rhodes
Producers:
Ellwood E. Kieser
Co-Producers:
Peter J. Burrell, Chris Donahue
Writer:
John Wells
Music:
Bill Conti, Ashley Irwin
