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A life remembered
By Geof Wollerman
gwollerm@mscd.edu

Photo by Jenn LeBlanc • jkerriga@mscd.edu Frank Quintana attended the invitation-only screening of The Saint of 9/11.

On a day when most of the country reminisced about the tragic events of Sept. 11, 2001, a premiere at Starz FilmCenter celebrated the inspiring life of one of the day’s most beloved victims.

The Saint of 9/11 is the story of Father Mychal Judge, a gay Catholic priest and the first registered victim of Sept. 11. Narrator Ian McKellen tells the story through Judge’s own words. Interviews with family, friends and coworkers round out the story of a life prolific in its charitable work.

“If anyone symbolized the sacrifices of the New Yorkers, the firefighters, the police officers, the EMTs, paramedics, it was Mychal,” former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani states in one of the movie’s opening scenes.

From images of the morning of Sept. 11, the movie’s narrative jumps back in time to Judge’s decision to enter the Catholic seminary at the age of 15. He was officially ordained a priest in 1961 at the age of 27, and he devoted himself to humanitarian efforts in some of his era’s most pressing tragedies: the conflict in Northern Ireland, the AIDS crisis and the crash of TWA Flight 800.

“Mychal Judge has been a hero of mine for a little while, particularly because he was a gay man and a priest,” said Denver priest Frank Quintana. Quintana said the movie “gives a positive witness, particularly for gay Catholics, because here is a man who didn’t want to abandon his men … in a time when they needed him most.”

On the morning of Sept. 11, Judge could have sought safety with others, but he chose to help instead. A friend remarks, “This is how Mychal would have prayed to have had the last day in his life transpire – doing what he loved.”

The movie made images of that morning brilliantly fresh. An almost palpable silence reigned in the theater as images of the World Trade Center South Tower slowly and gracefully collapsing into the largest pile of rubble and dust America has ever seen flickered on the screen.

Nevertheless, this is not a movie of horrifying images strung together. There are no crowds of people being swallowed by billowing clouds of dust, no helpless victims leaping from windows. There is just beauty: beauty in community, beauty in people’s souls and beauty in the acts of a humble man. Even the footage of the squalor and commotion of that morning takes on a transcendent quality, that of the shining, selfless citizens who risked their lives for others.

A good portion of the movie is made up of anecdotes. One story about Judge receiving an official car from the fire department complete with “bells and whistles, lights and gadgets,” produced an audible ripple of laughter from the audience.

The film lent a unique perspective on a tragic event that has been covered from all angles.

“I’m really curious to see a different point of view or a different angle on the events,” said Lena, a film society member, before the movie. “We’ve heard so much in the news and I’m hoping for something different.”

Different is one way to describe The Saint of 9/11. It might also be described as a grand cinematic tribute to a private citizen who gave his life to save others.

“For a man who will never get sainthood, having a tribute in the form of a movie is an amazing thing to give somebody to memorialize their life,” audience member Vince Kassube said.

This movie presents a striking alternative to the hype. It moves along without the force of an action-driven script and it avoids the knee-jerk emotions so prevalent in movies about tragedy.

Spoken in McKellen’s grave timbre, Judge’s words ring somber, simple, beautiful and true.

The Saint of 9/11 is about a man walking to the beat of his own drum, not just in his sexuality, or his unorthodox priestly practices, but in the way he approached life – with an uninhibited openness and optimism. The film is not just a tribute to Mychal Judge or the victims of Sept. 11, it is a tribute to the city of New York and its communities. It is a tribute to the people who commit everyday acts of kindness that go unnoticed. It is a tribute to humanity.

“I want everybody to see this movie,” said David Clark, a film society member. “I can’t imagine something more constructive to do on the fifth anniversary of 9/11.”

The Saint of 9/11, Clark said, was like “something rising out of the ashes.”

At its simplest, the movie is about a man who would give his coat to a homeless person. It’s about a man who knew alcoholism firsthand, who was acutely aware of his own faults. Judge never saw himself as a saint, but rather as a sinner who was doing the best he could.