Simon Birch is about faith. It is about an unyielding belief in God and understanding he has a plan for all of us. What makes the movie so poignant is that Simon Birch has more reasons than anyone else to question God's plan, yet his faith is more steadfast than those around him.
The movie opens with Jim Carrey standing in a church yard cemetery. He is reminiscing about his friend Simon Birch. In voice over we here him say:
"I am doomed to remember a boy with a wrecked voice, not because of his voice, or because he was the smallest person I ever knew, or even because he was the instrument of my mother's death, but because he is the reason I believe in God. What faith I have, I owe to Simon Birch, the boy I grew up with in Gravedown, Maine."
The rest of the film is told in flash back as we meet a young Joe Wentworth (Joe Mazzello) and his friend Simon Birch (Ian Michael Smith)
Both boys are 12 years old and struggling to find their identities. Joe wants to learn who is father is. He was born out of wedlock and his mother has kept the secret of who his father was from him, his grandmother and everyone else in town. Joe and Simon frequently engage in a guessing game about each of the adult males in town and the possibility of Joe being their offspring. Until Joe knows the answer he does not have much interests in the suitors Joe's mom brings home, including the jovial Ben Goodrich (Oliver Platt)
Simon on the other hand has always been different. He born extremely small and the doctor's said he would not last a day. Then a week. But he did and he grew into a small boy. A very small boy. At the age of 12 he is about the size of a toddler. But Simon has a big heart and and an even bigger faith in God. Simon seeks to know God's plan for him. he feels God has selected him for a special destiny and he wonders what it is. he also recognizes that physically he may not last much longer so what ever God is planning he should reveal it soon.
Simon's unyielding faith is an inspiration to Joe's mother (Ashley Judd) but to everyone else it is a frustration. Simon frequently challenges the church pastor, played by David Strathairn and his too much of a handful for his Sunday school teacher Miss Leavey (Jan Hooks).
Together these boys go on a journey of discovery and friendship that is both funny and tragic.
When it was released the movie was criticized for being overly sentimental and maybe it his, but in these times it is great to see a film that openly discusses faith and God without a drop of cynicism.
Ian Micheal Smith never acted before or since, but he is a natural in front of the camera. The rest of the cast excels as well in this heart warming tale suggested by the John Irving novel A Prayer For Owen Meany.
The movie full of warm sentiment and people you will enjoy spending two hours with.
At the Movie House rating *** stars.
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