Spiritual Quest Told With Humor, Respect

“Wide Awake” is a wonderful family film that deals sensitively, and even with humor, with a fairly unusual situation for the screen: a 9-year-old’s struggles with his faith in God.

It conveys just how devastating the death of a beloved grandparent can be on a child, and it depicts Catholic private school life in an affectionate and ultimately positive manner.

“Wide Awake” is a most encouraging second film from M. Night Shyamalan, who at the age of 21 made “Praying With Anger” (1992), a beautiful, accomplished work about a young man, played by Shyamalan, who reluctantly becomes an exchange student in India, the land of his parents’ birth, and ends up discovering himself.

As both parents are hard-working physicians, it’s not surprising that the key person in the life of Joshua Beal (Joseph Cross) is his widowed maternal grandfather (Robert Loggia), a rugged retiree who lives with the Beals in an impressive Colonial-style stone manor house in suburban Philadelphia. Joshua’s grandpa has plenty of time for him, encouraging him in sports and, as a deeply religious man, setting an example for his grandson.

When stricken with fatal bone cancer, Grandpa places his trust in God. But once Grandpa has died, Joshua, as he commences fifth grade, begins to have serious doubts about God’s existence and craves a sign that his grandfather is all right and safely ensconced in heaven.

As a writer and a director, Shyamalan does the admirable job of taking Joshua’s plight seriously while showing that life goes on and that in its course there will be moments that are still funny, especially since the opposite sex is just beginning to have its impact upon Joshua.

Joshua’s parents (Dana Delany, Denis Leary) are busy and seem to have decided to let Joshua work out his spiritual quest for himself. Joshua’s best friend Dave (Timothy Reifsnyder) is a flat-out nonbeliever--or so Dave thinks--but Joshua is not to be so easily diverted.

School provides Joshua with more direction. The school’s priest forthrightly tells Joshua that doubt goes hand in hand with faith and that believers can always expect to have their faith tested.

The person who connects the most to Joshua’s spiritual quest is his religion teacher, Sister Terry, played by Rosie O’Donnell. Sister Terry, who is given to speaking of Jesus going up to bat and facing down the pitcher Judas, is also a world-class listener and, though amused, doesn’t make fun of Joshua’s attempts to find answers in other religions. Her quiet concern is certainly crucial in keeping Joshua from becoming overly obsessed.

Cross is a marvel, a terrific young actor who expresses beautifully Joshua’s conflicting emotions, his clear intelligence and staunch character. Reifsnyder comes across with similarly strong impact. O’Donnell, like Oprah Winfrey, is able to jettison her talk-show personality and lose herself in a role. Shyamalan, who between his two features wrote a number of scripts for others to direct, was indeed fortunate to get O’Donnell to participate--and least of all for her celebrity.

Loggia, whose scenes all take place in flashback, is the kind of caring grandfather everyone would be lucky to have. Pretty much everyone else is peripheral, including Joshua’s parents, even though Delany and Leary are effective.

“Wide Awake” is a good-looking picture and is set entirely in a world of privilege. But there’s not a never-never land quality to the film; indeed, we’re witness to a painful scene in which a student must leave because his parents can no longer afford such an expensive school. Another key moment occurs when Joshua approaches a cardinal to ask him for reassurance only to back off when he discovers inadvertently how seriously ill the man is.

“Wide Awake” is the kind of picture that’s hard to bring to conclusion satisfactorily. It does in fact take a leap of faith at the finish that may strike you as a bit too literal. But it’s so well set up in advance that you’re likely to go along with it.

* MPAA rating: PG, for language and thematic elements. Times guidelines: It is suitable for children and adults alike.

‘Wide Awake’

Joseph Cross: Joshua Beal

Timothy Reifsnyder: Dave O’Hara

Rosie O’Donnell: Sister Terry

Robert Loggia: Grandpa

Dana Delany: Mother

Denis Leary: Father

A Miramax Films presentation of a Woods Entertainment production. Writer-director M. Night Shyamalan. Producers Cary Woods, Cathy Konrad. Executive producers Bob Weinstein, Harvey Weinstein, Meryl Poster. Cinematographer Adam Holender. Editor Andrew Mondsheim. Costumes Bridget Kelly. Music Edmund Choi. Production designer Michael Johnston. Set decorator Andrea Fenton. Running time: 1 hour, 27 minutes.

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* In general release throughout Southern California.