The Great Heart

In this day and age we're living in, religious figures have come under intense scrutiny for some really serious failings, it's a pleasure to know that some really do walk the walk. No one more so than Father Damien of Molokai who found his calling ministering to the leper colony of Molokai until he himself came down with the ancient biblical plague, known in the modern world as Hansen's Disease.

The short subject is narrated by Carey Wilson and a young Tom Neal played Father Damien in the short docudrama. A much more ambitious production was done as a made for TV film with Ken Howard as Father Damien. The big screen in America has not touched this inspiring story oddly enough.

I think it's ironic that Tom Neal should be playing Father Damien considering the problems he later got into. Let's just say his life was far from saintly.

The Great Heart got an Oscar nomination for Best Short Subject. It's a cheaply made film, but with the most inspiring of subjects.

In 1936, a US naval vessel travels from Hawaii at the behest of King Leopold III of Belgium to repatriate the body of Jozef De Veuster (Father Damiaan). Why? Well fifty years earlier he befriended a local population of lepers on the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i where only the sick were permitted to live. With bodies strewn in what passed from the streets, he dealt with a dissolute community that openly - and correctly - blamed the white man for bringing the ghastly disease in the first place. His priestly duties see him take charge of their future and in but a decade, the place has become a home for Christianity, hope and even running water. Just how long, though, can he survive before he too succumbs to this disease? When it does arrive, this man uses the news to improve the lot for his people - supplies arriving from all over the world to make their lives better and to offer them hope and medication for the future. Carey Wilson narrates this story and Tom Neal portrays this missionary without any dialogue and that didn't quite work for me. It's an interesting story but I found that the limiting nature of the photography brought little to what would have been a better radio broadcast that allowed us to use more of our own imagination. Still, it's a story worth watching of an illness the treatment of which hadn't really advanced since the times of Ben Hur. (PS: Father Damiaan was canonised in 2009).

Based on the true story of a Belgian priest, Father Damien, who made breakthroughs in the treatment of Leprosy in the 1860s. TOM NEAL is cast as the young priest who is the first to respond to the leprosy crisis and becomes instrumental in helping the colony clean up its act.

In doing so, he eventually succumbs to the disease through his contact with the suffering souls under his care.

Narrated by Carey Wilson, it's the tale of a brave man who triumphed over great odds until his own death after years of making inroads in improvements. Not done with any great flair and a bit overly dramatic, it's an above average short subject that was nominated for a 1938 Best Short Subject Oscar.

This short, nominated for an Academy Award, is a look at the true story of a Belgian priest who went to tend to lepers in Hawaii and contracted the disease himself. At least one film has been made about Father Damien and it's a fascinating story. Thi short is good, if a bit melodramatic at times and the narration is sometimes a bit droning. Turner Classic Movies runs this between movies regularly and almost invariably runs it in March as part of their "31 Days of Oscar" feature. Worth watching.

This short, written and narrated by Carey Wilson, is about Father Damien, a Belgian priest who dedicated his life to tending to victims of leprosy on the Hawaiian island of Molokai, until he succumbed to the disease himself and died after sixteen years of service.

He was honored in his time by the Hawaiian monarchy. At least three movies have been made about him -- this was the first -- and he was canonized by the Catholic Church on 11 October 2009.

Although leprosy is no longer the terrifying and mysterious affliction it had been since Biblical times, this simple, if typically overwrought movie in Wilson's series of shorts for MGM demonstrates the dedication that can still inspire truly good people.