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The Third Miracle is set against the violent, chaotic reality of contemporary inner-city America. Father Frank lives on the poorest edges of Chicago, where the faithful mix freely with prostitutes, drug dealers and the hopeless. It is an unexpected place for a miracle to take place – and an extremely unlikely place for a miracle to be believed. For Agnieszka Holland, the gritty, raw American urban setting was a vital part of cultivating a lasting mystery. "We often associate miracles and appearances of Mary with very poor countries where it is very easy to qualify such things as superstition," notes the director. "We imagine that people in Central Europe are still living in the Middle Ages and these things seem possible. But in the middle of America, a skeptical, secular society, it is much more surprising."
Holland highlights the contrasts and similarities by jumping straight from a street miracle in World War II Slovakia to a Chicago street equally war-torn by urban violence and decay. "One of the things that most struck me about America when I was first started shooting here is how much these cities look like a place where a war has happened, although America has never had a war at home. You see people who are incredibly lost, confused, distracted and violent."
Holland purposefully used a cinematic style that evokes the sometimes brutal, apocalyptic nature of the city. Part of her challenge was to deal with matters of the spirit through the physical imagery of film, conveying the wonder of divine grace but also the irreconcilable separation of spirituality from our rough-edged earthly experiences.
She was inspired by the urban American films of the 70s which so unflinchingly depicted the flip side of the American Dream – because against this sort of shattering realism she felt that human resilience, hope and survival shone.
"One of the things you find is that in the big cities of today everything works against faith – the greed, the violence, the fast pace. Yet the fact that faith still exists can give us hope," says Holland.
