Henry met his first, a quiet little girl named Millie, who likes to tape people’s conversation. Then, a friendly neighbour named Esperanza Martinez, a middle aged Latino woman who showed him hospitality with her homemade Tamales. Henry wasn’t all that pleased with people came knocking on his door.. not if he wished to die alone.
One day, Esperanza accidentally came across an unusual phenomenon on Henry’s wall at his backyard. Although in Henry’s opinion, it was only a water stain due to a lousy stucco job, but to her, it was actually the blood & the face of Christ!
Feeling annoyed and disturbed, Henry chased both Esperanza and the Pastor away. Only after Henry listened to Esperanza’s life story, he was touched, and even though unwillingly, he finally agreed to let the church ran some tests on his wall. Meanwhile, Henry learnt about Millie’s dereism from Dawn (Millie’s mom) while returning the tape recorder that Millie left at his backyard. Poor Millie, not a word spoken ever since her father passed away for more than 1 year ago.
Then one miraculous night, Millie sneaked in to Henry’s backyard and she touched the Christ-Faced-wall. With tears streaming down her cheeks, she hugged Dawn and uttered her first word softly — “Mama”. Dawn was overjoyed! Later that night, after Dawn tugged Millie in, Henry finally talked to her about his health condition. However, he still remained skeptic about the whole ‘miracle’ thing. Since then, Dawn, Millie & Henry became great friends and feelings started to grow for the 2 grownups as well. For the first time in a long time, Henry felt happy again.
Meanwhile, miracles after miracles were performed at Henry’s backyard for those who touched the wall. Despite feeling desperate, Henry still refused to have anything to do with the Holy-wall. Until one day, Millie stopped talking again after she overheard the conversation Henry & Dawn had about him dying soon, just like her father did. Dawn was devastated. They seek help from numerous doctors and professionals, yet yielded nothing. Henry was angry and resented more on the beliefs for miracles.
Returning home from desperation, Henry had an emotional outburst after seeing the crowd came for more miraculous acts from the wall. He grabbed a hammer and smashed it. While Henry was catching his breath, he put his hand on the broken wall. At that very moment, he felt a sense of dizziness, then the roof collapsed on him. Henry was been admitted to the hospital. After he opened his eyes, not only he was greeted by his dear neighbours Esperanza & Dawn, but he was fully cured from the disease as well! Only then he realized that the blood on the wall was real, so were the miracles. He was regretful for destroying the wall, but as Esperanza told him “It wash here for as long as it needed to here, like everything and everyone”.
So, the cynic Henry found hope and love at last. To me, this movie is a breath of fresh air. It reminds me to be grateful, always, and never lose faith no matter what happens. Just like what Esperanza (which also means Hope in Spanish) said “Everything happens for a reason”. And for once in a long time, it’s a movie without violence, nudity and harsh languages. It’s an heartwarming, and inspirational movie with simple storyline, but unexpectedly, enjoyable and pleasant.
“I promise you will get old I promised you everything To protect you wherever you go I’ll give you this diamond ring Just promise you will remember A promise should last forever Right up to the dying embers Of a fire that burns so slow …”
And Enjoy this song by Badly Drawn Boy ~ Promises (soundtrack for this movie)
Copyright © 2008 by Wong Ching Ya, All Rights Reserved, “HENRY POOLE IS HERE: Movies on weekends (3)!”.
