EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: 'Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story'
EXCLUSIVE REVIEW: 'Heart of a Servant: The Father Flanagan Story'
In theaters nationwide only on October 8!
One of the all-time greatest films from the 1930s is Norman Taurog’s Boys Town, starring Spencer Tracy as the real-life Irish priest, Servant of God Fr. Edward J. Flanagan, who founded the titular town as a "City of Little Men" primarily for orphans. It earned Tracy his second consecutive Oscar1 and was the second highest-grossing film of 1938 (second only to Snow White). It was a smash success, but more importantly it highlighted the important work that Flanagan himself was doing in Omaha, Nebraska in the town he founded.
Directors Daniel Gebert and Rob Kaczmark (the latter of which being the founder of the production company behind the film, "Spirit Juice Studios") go even further in-depth on the life of this remarkable Irish immigrant whose influence was not exclusive to America. His life has been exhaustively researched by writers Kelly Cunningham and Gebert to give a full portrait of the man whose famous saying "there’s no such thing as a bad boy" should be the starting place for adolescent reform across the world.
The film covers Flanagan’s entire life and career, and effectively uses what audio and video footage remain of the man from his time. I wished that the documentary went a little further in-depth into the inner workings of the town, and maybe some more concrete cases of boys arriving there and how they were reformed. However, the film more than made up for it with little-known facts about Flanagan that I was not aware of, and made me interested in learning more about his continuing cause for canonization. I was also interested to learn that Boys Town is still very much active and running, which definitely put it as a place on my radar to visit one day.
Overall, the documentary is an informative and beautifully presented look at the life of one of America’s most effective and holy civil reformers. Check it out in theaters on October 8!
Servant of God Fr. Edward Joseph Flanagan, pray for us!
Only two actors have ever won the Oscar for Best Actor in consecutive years: Spencer Tracy for Captains Courageous (1937) and Boys Town (1938), and Tom Hanks for Philadelphia (1993) and Forrest Gump (1994)