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http://www.saintof9-11.com/saint/Review of Saint of 9/11
by Christie Keith, September 11, 2006
http://www.afterelton.com/movies/2006/9/saintof911.htmlEven if you're sure you've seen everything about 9/11 you can bear to see, you might still find this gentle documentary about New York Fire Department chaplain Father Mychal Judge worth breaking a few rules.
Directed by Glenn Holsten (JIM IN BOLD) and narrated by out gay actor Sir Ian McKellen, Saint of 9/11 tells the story of Father Mychal's life from his childhood in Brooklyn, to his ordination as a priest, to his death at Ground Zero.
Even before 9/11, many people considered Mychal Judge a hero: The firefighters for whom he served as chaplain, the homeless to whom he gave winter coats, people with AIDS to whom he ministered. But after 9/11, his hero status became official, when Father Mychal Judge became the first recorded victim of the terrorist attacks.
Killed at Ground Zero after being injured while administering last rites, Judge's photograph was famously captured as he was carried out of the wreckage in the arms of four men, in a pose dubbed “the American Pièta.”
In the days and weeks after 9/11, the complexity of Mychal Judge's life began to emerge. Despite his hero's status, Father Mychal didn't fit most people's idea of a Catholic priest. A gay man, a recovering alcoholic, admired by President Clinton and homeless men living in boxes alike, he possessed that rare combination of qualities that are usually attributed to saints: Nobility and humility.
Much of the controversy surrounding Father Mychal centers on his homosexuality. Some conservative Christians have contended that Father Mychal was not gay at all, that it was nothing but a “smear” by gay activists eager to claim a hero of 9/11. Others fall back on the belief that homosexuality is a matter of behavior, not orientation, and that since Catholic priests are celibate, Father Mychal couldn't have been gay.
But NYFD fire commissioner Thomas Von Essen told New York Magazine, "I actually knew about his homosexuality when I was in the Uniformed Firefighters Association. I kept the secret, but then he told me when I became commissioner five years ago. He and I often laughed about it, because we knew how difficult it would have been for the other firefighters to accept it as easily as I had. I just thought he was a phenomenal, warm, sincere man, and the fact that he was gay just had nothing to do with anything."
Some of the most powerful moments in Saint of 9/11 involve his early ministry with people with AIDS at St. Vincent's Hospital in the 1980s. He found that many gay men with AIDS refused to speak with a Catholic priest, perceiving him as a representative of a faith and an institution that rejected and condemned them. He changed his approach, entering their rooms and massaging their feet with oil before beginning to speak with them. After that, few turned him away.
In another poignant scene, a friend tells of a funeral at which the Father Mychal told the grieving parents how proud they must be of their son. It was probably, says the friend, the first time these particular parents had ever been told to be proud of their son by a priest.
Judge also worked with Dignity, and officiated at mass for gay and lesbian Catholics, much to the dismay of the archdiocese. Commented one friend on the conflict, “He had a direct line to God, so the Church couldn't get in the way.”
His own experiences as a gay man, as an alcoholic, and as the child of immigrants inspired in him a profound empathy for the suffering of others. He sought to ease that suffering in the most direct ways possible, including distributing winter coats to the homeless and working with addicts and alcoholics.
Saint of 9/11 does suffer the curse of hagiography, and the aura of reverence it gives its subject clouds its credibility. Some reviewers found it overly sweet, and given the massive contradictions in Judge's life, it's hard not to fault the filmmaker for failing to delve into them more deeply. We're told Judge is a gay man and a recovering alcoholic. We're not told how he reconciles his sexuality with the specific dogma of his Church, nor whether he is celibate.
Such omissions may weaken the film's credibility, but don't dim its impact. Saint of 9/11 is one of the best 9/11 documentaries, and Father Mychal's story particularly resonant for gay audiences.
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