Ordinary Angels
Ordinary Angels
Starring Hilary Swank, Alan Ritchson, Emily Mitchell, Skywalker Hughes
Directed by Jon Gunn
In Louisville, Kentucky in 1994, Sharon Stevens (Hilary Swank) is a hairdresser by day and alcoholic by night, living a wild life as she drinks away the pain of having her only son alienate himself from her due to her self-destructive behavior. After her friend forces her to attend an AA meeting, she's told that she needs to focus on something bigger than herself. At the store later she sees a newspaper article about young Michelle Schmitt (Emily Mitchell) - who just lost her mother and is also dealing with a life-threatening disease. Seeing this as her chance, she attends the mother's funeral and meets Michelle, her father Ed (Alan Ritchson), and her older sister Ashley (Skywalker Hughes). The girls take a shine to her, but Ed is hesitant - he just lost his wife, and Sharon looks like a mess.
She comes to visit them later with money she raised from a fundraiser she hosted at her shop, and soon integrates herself into the family's daily activities. She helps Ed with the insurmountable bills by getting him out there and drawing national attention to Michelle's plight, as well as using her "never say no" attitude to have their bills erased. Yet as she keeps doing good things, it becomes apparent that she's trading one addiction for another, and Ed notices it as well. Sharon is still hiding from her past, and until she can face it, she won't be fully fixed. When Michelle's condition worsens, Sharon once again comes to the rescue, but this time as a new woman who's been clean and sober and ready to make the impossible possible - with a little help from her friends and random strangers that show we don't always need heavenly angels on our side - we have ordinary angels among us.
The Good:
It's obvious how the film will end, and sometimes it's not about the destination but the journey. It'd be a terrible downer if it ended with Michelle's death, and obviously that's not the case. Instead its the journey we go on with Sharon, Ed, Michelle and Ashley that's the important thing, and independent director Jon Gunn manages to make us an omniscient third-party viewer in a way that feels more personal than just seeing it through a screen: we feel the emotions they feel, we're there for the heartache and triumphs, and we're on the edge of our seats in the thrilling conclusion - at least I was, and I was even wondering why I was so stressed out when I knew she was going to make it. That's some fantastic directing, where you can take a film as "simple" as this and make it subtly profound.
The filmmaking techniques are solid and compact, as he uses natural lighting to make it feel more of a personal feel, especially scenes within Ed's house. It's homey and safe, and also the place that his grandfather built with his two hands - so when Sharon suggests selling it to help pay medical bills, Ed furiously renounces that idea. It feels like your home as well, even though it's a place of heartache and sadness there's still hope and joy in there as well. The shots all feel natural that further adds to your ease with the film - it sucks you in from the get-go and doesn't let you go.
Hilary Swank is a two-time Academy Award winning actress, and at first I thought this type of film was beneath her - the trailer made it feel very generic and prodding for tears, like an emotional manipulation, but I was entirely wrong. She puts her heart and soul into the film, and it shows with her passionate performance. She plays Sharon as a deeply flawed woman, but also a woman who wants to make amends any way she can. She's an addict and has an addictive personality, switching from the bottle to helping the Schmitts that sometimes feels over-burdened, but that's her personality - as she says, she doesn't take no for an answer. We could all use a friend like Sharon, and we should all strive to be a friend like Sharon (minus the addictive personality). While she spends all her time helping the family, we begin to see cracks form in her own world as she struggles with her son's lack of relationship with her, as well as her continued need to return to the bottle that threatens to undo all the good she's done to this point. Swank is a perfect casting choice because she has made a name for herself by playing such characters (like in "Million Dollar Baby" and "Boys Don't Cry") and she has a charm that oozes through the screen and attaches itself to you.
Alan Ritchson is a hulking brute of a man, best known for the best iteration of Jim Grant's Jack Reacher character in Amazon Prime's "Reacher" series, so it's odd seeing a man like that in a role like this. As Ed, he plays the ultimate single father struggling with growing bills, grieving the loss of his wife, and worried that he'll soon lose his youngest girl as well. Throw in a supposed alcoholic crazy woman who's spending all her time at their home, and you can relate as to why he's stoic and often angry: he has to keep his emotions negative, otherwise he'll lose all control. Ritchson proves that he has dramatic acting abilities as well as his obvious action prowess and by the end you'll have a deep connection to his character as well.
As far as the child actors go, it's often a hit-or-miss thing. Some child actors are terrible, while others are absolutely amazing. Thankfully, both Emily Mitchell and Skywalker Hughes (seriously, her parents have to be the coolest parents in the world to name their daughter Skywalker) are the latter, both giving strong performances as Michelle and Ashley. They never come off as annoying or bratty, and both add to the emotional heft of the film.
The final moments when Michelle receives a transplant but they have to get her to the airport in the middle of the 1994 North American cold wave is the stuff of stressed-out legend, as pretty much everything that could go wrong does - the call comes at a time during the main brunt of the storm, the roads are closed, and not only do they have to get to the airport, but they need a helicopter to get there, and also someone willing to actually fly in the storm. There's numerous times where it seems hope is lost, and I found myself actually believing it for a second before remembering they wouldn't do that in a movie like this, but the fact that I actually felt it meant that they did a great job in portraying the tension of the situation.
The Bad:
The film does follow the generic tropes of its kind, as I was pointing out to my friend as we were watching it, where I was waiting for "the moment" when everything seems to fall apart before the clutch. That moment of course happens, as does the predictable continuation, but it didn't really deter my enjoyment of the movie or the uplifting message it portrayed.
The Summary:
If you need hope in humanity restored, "Ordinary Angels" is a good place to start - and then go out and be someone like Sharon, who was willing to give everything to help out strangers and gather the community together.
The Score: A-
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