Saving Grace is a 1986 comedy-drama film directed by Robert M. Young, produced by Herbert F. Solow, and starring Tom Conti, Giancarlo Giannini and Edward James Olmos. It is based on the eponymous novel by Celia Gittelson with screenplay by Richard Kramer and David S. Ward under a different name.
It was the last film to be distributed by Embassy Pictures.
The film gained notoriety after the election of a real Pope Leo XIV - whose baptism name is also Robert, as the movie's Leo XIV.
Cardinal Bellini has been elected Pope Leo XIV. A year after his election, the youthful Pope longs to be involved in ordinary people's lives again, as he was when he was a priest. During an audience, the Pope communicates with a young deaf mute girl whose village has no priest. Accidentally locked out of the Vatican, the Pope travels to Montepetra, a small impoverished and demoralized village, his identity concealed by his beard growth. He realizes that the people need to rebuild a dilapidated aqueduct but, more importantly, that they must regain their community spirit and self-sufficiency. Without expertise and, initially, only the help of some street-wise orphans, he starts construction. All this is watched skeptically by a mysterious neighbour and opposed by local thugs led by Ciolino whose ill-gotten gains depend on the village remaining overly dependent on outsiders.
The movie was shot in Italy: in the cities of Rome, Mantua and the ghost town of Craco.
Saving Grace premiered in the United States on May 2, 1986, and in the Philippines on April 11, 1987.
The film received mixed to positive reviews. Walter Goodman of The New York Times said, "There's no more engaging actor around than Tom Conti, but not even he, with the assistance of such notables of international moviedom as Giancarlo Giannini, Erland Josephson and Fernando Rey, can lift Saving Grace out of its slough of sentiment." Time Out wrote: "Despite a plot veiled in about as much mystery as an uncracked soft-boiled egg, Saving Grace does retain a certain Disneyesque charm as an innocent modern fable". Variety and TV Guide appreciated the cast and the direction, but expressed criticism about Conti's appearance considered too young for the part. TV Guide defined the movie as "a small but well-told parable that is perfect for family viewing".