La légende du saint buveur

A drunken homeless man (Rutger Hauer) in Paris is lent 200 francs by a stranger (Anthony Quayle) as long as he promises to repay it to a local church when he can afford to; the film depicts the man's constant frustrations as he attempts to do so.

This project started when producer Roberto Cicutto (Hotel Rwanda) bought the rights to Roth's book of the same name. A few directors were approached and turned the film down because the plot was too "thin" and "vague". Finally, Ermanno Olmi (Tree of Wooden Clogs) was suggested by Tullio Kezich's wife, and he accepted. Perhaps because of modesty, Kezich suggests that Olmi wrote the bulk of the script, with Kezich merely "watching him work". Kezich is best known as the film critic for Corriere della Sera and for his award-winning biography of director Federico Fellini.

According to Kezich, Robert DeNiro wanted the lead role, and Cicutto flew him to Europe to meet with Olmi. DeNiro was in awe of Olmi, but apparently the feeling was not mutual. Oddly, Rutger Hauer was wanted by Olmi because of his role in "The Hitcher" (1986), which makes little sense. Hauer himself concedes that he was more comfortable with action, and less comfortable with nuance.

In fact, Hauer was probably a better choice than DeNiro, despite the latter's bigger star power. Hauer is quite effective as the alcoholic, not overdoing it. The way he is dressed and presents himself makes the "holy drinker" an interesting character because on the surface he appears quite well-to-do when, in fact, he sleeps under a bridge.

Worth noting is Anthony Quayle, who has a small but important part, as he really commands attention from the audience just with his presence. Unlike Hauer, Quayle was primarily a stage actor, steeped in Broadway and Shakespeare. This may be why he so naturally comes off as "distinguished" because he certainly was.

The film won the Golden Lion at the 45th edition of the Venice Film Festival. It also won four David di Donatello Awards (for best film, best director, Best cinematography and best editing) and two Silver Ribbons (for best director and best screenplay). The film was selected as the Italian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 61st Academy Awards, though it was not accepted as a nominee.

This mysterious tale -- almost a dark, dry comedy -- really comes to life on the Arrow Blu-ray. The special features are fairly slim, though the 25-minute interview with Kezich is enlightening and the 10-minute interview with Hauer is a joy. The best thing about this film is that it is now going to be available to a new audience. Though not well-known, it ought to be. In this reviewer's humble opinion, "Holy Drinker" is superior to "Tree of Wooden Clogs", and may be Hauer's finest role.

Olmi is one of Europe's last Old Masters in the art of film making. He is usually regarded as a belated neo-realist, but after you've seen "The Legend of the Holy Drinker", you will realize the label simply does not stick. This is a film about spirituality, about communion, one of the most deeply religious movies ever, whose only rivals might be Dreyer's "Ordet" or Bergman's rather pretentious "faith trilogy" ("Through a Glass Darkly", "Winter Light" and "The Silence"). However, you will not find Scandinavian mists or angst in Catholic Olmi's adaptation of the beautiful novella written, oddly enough, by a great Jewish novelist, Joseph Roth. Wine is a metaphor for life, and Paris is a metaphor for our urban world. In this symbolic universe, it takes a great actor to give flesh and blood to the character of Andreas, the holy drinker, a beggar endowed with an amazing sense of dignity. Rutger Hauer was the man for the job: this was his best performance: he was never better, and, to judge from the course his career has taken, I fear he will never be better than in this film. It is not a thriller, but it is thrilling. It takes its own leisurely pace, but goes very far, very deep indeed into the human soul. After so many insipid or unpalatable cinematic concoctions, treat yourself to this film: it truly is vintage stuff.

Dutch actor, Rutger Hauer plays the role of a Catholic-Pole and tramp - Andreas Kartack, living in penury in a a timeless Paris. He is approached by a generous dapper gentleman (English actor Anthony Quayle) who gives him 200 francs as long as he donates part of it to a local chapel. An ex-coal miner, in appearance, Kartack sports 'over the ears' wavy fair hair, rheumy eyes, a thin moustache and those tell-tale signs of the coal-mining trade - a rough tough job to say the least- a flat-cap and coal-dust underneath his fingernails. There are shots of him in a Polish mine-shaft and pit-village in an earlier life. He finds work, the company of women and companionship with fellow Poles but is let down by his alcoholism if not sense of stupidity. Based on Lemberg-born Jewish writer Joseph Roth's novel, why the film is poignant is hard to describe - perhaps relating to Slavs/East Europeans exiled from their homelands. The film has a rich spiritual feel, in fact it has that sense of art and spirituality seen in Dostoyevsky's novel, 'The Idiot' featuring the saintly epileptic Prince Leo or Tarkovsky's moving, 'Nostalghia' (1983). Paris seems like an organically glamourous city . For me, this is Hauer's finest performance after his role as the fair-haired French free spirit, Claude Maillot-Van Horn in Roeg's 'Eureka' (1983).

This tale of a tramp who is the recipient of the milk of human kindness but who finds it difficult to repay the goodness shown to him is typical of its director, Ermanno Olmi, but whereas other Olmi films deal with the common-place with an uncommon beauty this tale of the mystical is overtly simplistic. "The Legend of the Holy Drinker" is visually superb and we should expect nothing less from an Olmi picture but it is also very dry, very dull and very unevenly acted, (the partial dubbing of its international cast certainly doesn't help).

As the tramp Rutger Hauer staggers around looking a little too bewildered at what's happening to him and the supporting cast are fundamentally just bit players in his far from interesting story. The Stravinsky score also sits somewhat uneasily on proceedings. Some people think this is a masterpiece while others have simply dismissed it. Personally I found it a crashing bore.

This simple tale is told at a pace which allows the audience time to reflect within the context of the moral challenges it presents. The result is a level of engagement far superior to the gamut of empty sophistication in the movie world. One is able to explore the implications of the actions and decisions of Hauer's character without leaving the narrative - there is no pressure for post viewing reflection when the spell of the film is broken and thought is coloured by a context inappropriate to the narrative. Here is a complete experience - moving, profound and visually beautiful - if only Hollywood could produce cinema of this standard.